Lost and Found
by princessyuki08
Summary: The Porter sisters find themselves getting more than they expected after moving to England from California. The girls must keep their wits about them as they travel from one place to another. First in a series that follows the movies. Tumnus/OC, Peter/OC, Edmund/OC, and an eventual Caspian/OC. This will go sightly AU later.
1. Chapter 1: The World Spins Madly On

**Chapter One: The World Spins Madly On**

 _ **"When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us." ― Helen Keller**_

 _June 9, 1940_

 _Our family's decision to move from Burbank, California to London, England in 1940, while a war is raging, was probably one of the most illogical decisions my father could have made. He was an inventor who was contacted by the British Intelligence to help with countermeasures against the Nazi Germany. The question that's probably running through any sane person's mind who decides to read this sad little book is probably: Why anyone would move from one of the safest places in the world to probably one of the most dangerous and why would British Intelligence want an American inventor? Well, I can probably answer that simply with one answer, my dad is English. He left Liverpool in the 1920's as a teenager, while he was travelling, and met my mom, who is American and was an artist at the time, and he loved her creativity and zest for life and decided to stay with her. A friend of his who he had since childhood, who was contracted by British Intelligence recommended him. He took up the offer when it was given to him, which moved my mom, my sisters and I to London._

 _There's only one upside to this move, we have neighbors that are around our age. Well, not Alice's, but Violet, Zoe, and I have people our age to talk to. There's a family down the street with two boys and two girls. Peter is 13 and his sister, Susan just turned 12. Susan's nice, a bit brainy like Alice, but she's alright. Peter won't talk to me at all. I have no idea what I did to him, but every time he and I are in the same room together, he make an excuse to leave. He'll talk to my sisters, but not to me, not that he really has much to say to Alice or Zoe. Edmund and Lucy are basically the same age as Zoe. Edmund is a year older than she is and Lucy is a year younger. Edmund isn't very sociable, but Lucy is sweet and a good playmate for her. I think it's really only Alice who doesn't have anyone, but she has her books and those have always suited her more than people. Mom thinks she should learn to keep a home and cook, so she can keep her husband happy when she eventually marries. I don't really think that's Alice's goal in life, I wouldn't be surprised if she never got married. She's happy with her books, with her studies, and with learning; love and romance, they just don't fit into her life and it'll take someone who likes and wants to learn and likes that sort of stuff to ever have the chance to convince her to change her mind. I don't understand why_

"Jane?"

I looked up from my new journal that Aunt Emma had given me before we had left to see Alice poking her head into mine and Violet's room. I raised my eyebrows at her, as if to ask what she wanted.

"Dinner's ready." Alice stated, "Mother invited the Pevensies for dinner."

"Great another awkward dinner." I groaned, closing the journal, I'd finish the entry later. It wasn't surprising that Mom invited the Pevensies for dinner, she was used to big Sunday dinners with a lot of family around.

"You're only saying that because Peter gets under your skin." She smiled softly.

"He does not," I retorted, "He won't say a word to me and I don't get it. I haven't done anything to him, I-"

"It might not be you." She said gently, "Give it some time."

"But-"

"If he chooses not to converse with you and get to know you, that is his decision and he will be missing out on a wonderful person, if he does." She replied, "Unless he's actually been mean to you, then leave it be. Don't let it get to you."

"Maybe you should pass on those words of wisdom to Zoe." I commented, "She's the one chasing Edmund Pevensie around."

"She has a different problem." Alice replied, "She doesn't care why he doesn't want to be around her, she could care less. She wants to be around him."

"Why?"

"I don't know." She slight shrugged, "You would have to ask her."

After she left, I got up off my bed and put my journal and my pen away in my desk, and then went to the bathroom to wash up for dinner.

"Jane! The Pevensies are coming for dinner!" Zoe said excitedly as she ran into the bathroom to wash her hands for dinner.

"You excited to see Lucy?" I asked her.

"Yeah." She replied half-heartedly, "Bit more to see Edmund though."

"Why?"

"He's challenging." She replied simply, "I want to be his friend."

"Getting anywhere with that?" I asked, still confused by her reasoning.

"He stopped telling me to leave him alone." She smiled.

'He probably stopped seeing the point.' I thought, and then replied sheepishly, "That's good."

I knew she should leave him alone, we all did, but we hadn't seen her smile or take an interest in anything or anyone since we got here. I think once school starts up again, she'll make friends and her interest in Edmund will diminish.

After Zoe washed up and went to the dining room, I walked into the bathroom, closing the door behind me, and looked at the mirror. I sighed at my reflection, part of me wished I looked like Alice, with her long blonde hair that curled at the ends, or thought like Violet, who didn't seem to care what others thought of her. She was a regular tomboy, she wanted to play sports and rough house, and was basically the closest thing dad ever really got to having a boy, not that ever really matter to him. I didn't look like Alice though, my hair was a mousy brown and it was straight and barely hit my shoulders, and I did care what others thought. I did care that Peter refused to be in the same room as me, I did worry about what that said of me.

"This is the best it's going to get." I sighed at my reflection and washed my hands, before going to the dining room. Everyone else was already sitting down. Mother and Mrs. Pevensie were at the heads of the table. Lucy was next to her mother with Alice was opposite her, they were conversing politely. Alice was telling her all about the books she had been reading, or at least the simpler ones she thought Lucy would be interested in. Edmund was next to Lucy, staring down at his plate, trying to avoid talking to Zoe who was sitting across from him. Susan was next to Mom, telling Violet, who was sitting opposite her, all about the schools here and asking what we learned back in the states and questioning the differences, while Violet was doing everything she could to avoid the conversation. Susan was nice and all, but she is definitely not Violet's cup of tea. She'd rather talk about baseball or some other sport, not school. Peter was next to Edmund, trying to look anywhere except for the empty space in front of him where I ended up sitting down. The only ones who really seemed to enjoy these dinners were our mothers, Alice, Lucy, and Susan didn't seem to mind them. Zoe looked forward to them, but always was disappointed with their outcome. Violet could have cared less either way. Peter and Edmund always looked like they were uncomfortable, I wondered if it was because they were the only two boys in a large group of women or girls. I didn't really know what to think of them: the boys, the Pevensies in general, or the dinners. I didn't really even know what I thought of England yet, other than I missed the beach and the Pacific Ocean and wished I was back home.

"We could have been surfing right now." Violet whispered to me, when she had noticed Susan had stopped talking.

"You would have been surfing," I pointed out, "I would have been-"

"Watching the waves and writing." She finished my sentence, she had been able to do that since we were little. I've always guessed it was a twin thing, my other sisters could never do it. "I miss home."

"This is our home now." I reminded her.

"Could be worse." Violet replied hopefully.

"How so?" I asked confused as I started to pick at my food.

"I'm not sure," Violet looked back at me, "This is kind of awful, I'd have to think on it." She looked back at her food, "I'd kill for a burger."

"I'd kill for triple chocolate fudge malt with fries on the side to dip in it." I smiled, thinking about the sweet and salty treat.

"We couldn't get them anyway cause of the war." Violet reminded.

"Wars don't last forever though." I replied, "Eventually, it will end, as all wars do, and we'll be able to eat whatever again."

"We don't know if they have food rations here."

"We do." Susan answered our unasked question. We looked at her incredulously. I thought the English were supposed to be polite. Isn't is a little rude to eavesdrop on someone else's quiet conversation? One could argue that it's rude to have a whispered conversation in the close company of other people, but our manners are under scrutiny here, it was hers. Just because you hear someone talking doesn't mean you comment. "Food is rationed here. I doubt any of the foods either of you mentioned would be available, not that I really know what malts are."

"It's a type of dessert drink." I replied quietly.

"It's a drink made with ice cream, I think you call them thick shakes, you would find them in soda shops." Violet explained, "Jane likes to dip fries in them."

Susan looked at her confused.

"I believe the English call them chips." Violet clarified.

"Why would anyone want to dip chips in ice cream?" Susan asked dumbfounded.

"Everyone has different tastes." I replied sheepishly, "I like the taste of sweet and salty things together."

It was kind of sad really, I could write pages upon pages in a journal, but talking to people, outside of my sisters, I've never quite gotten the hang of it. Forget speaking in public, by the way things were going that was never going to happen. It was hard enough for me to converse with my peers; that was Violet's strength between the two of us.

 **Violet's POV**

I wonder if Susan slightly enjoyed make others feel uncomfortable or feeling better than others, not that I would call Susan better than Jane, but she surely seemed to think she was. Jane wasn't going to stand up for herself, she would if she wasn't so shy, but that's alright, that's why she has me. Jane was brainy like Alice, just shyer; me and Zoe, we were the ones with the attitude. Neither of us were afraid to speak our minds when we felt the need. I wouldn't call Susan out, especially not here in front of everyone; that would be rude and I knew better than that.

Looking around the table, I had no clue why we had these dinners. The only ones who enjoyed them were our mother and Mrs. Pevensie. Not even Zoe, who could find joy in pretty much everything, really liked them from what I could tell. She liked seeing Edmund, who she really needed to leave alone, and Lucy, who could be a good friend to her if she didn't chase after Edmund so much. Jane absolutely hated them, and from talking to Peter, who has always been nice, but brutally honest, the dinners made him uncomfortable and Jane made him nervous. I didn't get why, but she did. Edmund didn't seem to enjoy the dinners at all, but he didn't seem to enjoy much. I didn't understand why Zoe chased him around, the kid kinda had a stick up his ass. Susan wasn't much better than Edmund, she was just less moody than he was. Edmund was just a moody little kid, there were probably reasons why he was the way he was. I didn't get Susan's reason for the way she acts.

I looked up from my food to see someone was talking to me, I should probably pay attention to what they were saying. It was Mrs. Pevensie, I had missed too much of what she was saying to answer her. So, I said what I usually told people when I didn't hear or pay attention to what they were saying, when I had been too lost within my own thoughts, "I'm not sure."

Alice picked up on my answer really quickly and answered Mrs. Pevensie for me. I didn't really listen to her answer, I heard enough to know Alice had answered the question for me. The only way to really survive these dinners or even to get through life at the moment is to revert into oneself, or at least it is for me at the moment. It's not like I can go out and play ball. I guess I could get back into tennis, it would be something to tide me over until I could play baseball again. Tennis could possibly help me with my swing… Oh, crap, someone's trying to say something to me again, what is with these people and trying to talk to me? Do I even know what they even asked? No, no, I did not.

 **Alice's POV**

Violet had that blank look on her face again, I'd better answer the question for her.

"Violet's never been really interested in school, she's always been more interested in athletics." I replied to Susan. She had been chewing Violet's ear off about school almost all dinner. "Back in the States, she used to play baseball in her free time. Jane is more of the studious one between the two of them, but she's more of the silent genius. I don't hear her talk much outside of the family though." I added, knowing Jane and Violet hadn't been paying attention anyway. Eventually, the dinner was over and we bid farewell to the Pevensies until tomorrow.

There was a distinct difference between the twins; outside of their looks, they were completely different people. Neither of the girls think they look alike, but really the only difference in looks is their hair color. Jane was a brunette, while Violet was a redhead. Zoey and I were both blonde. Looks aside though, all of us were different. Jane was brainy and shy, Violet was athletic and audacious, and Zoe, well Zoe was a bit of a wildcard, but I don't know what anyone else would really expect her to be, she's only nine. I think she and I were the only ones who were generally happy about the move. Yes, the timing of the move was awful, being in the midst of a war, but it was definitely a better situation than what Zoe and I were in.

By the time we had moved, Zoe was a loner, who had been indefinitely suspended from all after she got into a fight with another kid. I doubt they would have suspended her if she hadn't punched the girl in the face, giving her two black eyes, a broken nose, and a bloody swollen lip or if the girl hadn't been the daughter of the vice principal. In all honesty, it was the girl's own fault. If she hadn't been such a brat, Zoe wouldn't have attacked her in the first place. That wasn't the way the school saw the incident though. We were told that if she had gotten into another fight, she would be expelled. This would be a good way for her to start over.

Leaving Burbank was the only way to get out of the relationship I was in. My parents had introduced me you a young man a few years older than I am with the intent of us eventually getting married, what they didn't see was that he was an arrogant, chauvinistic Neanderthal. He was very good at hiding behind a mask in in a sea of people. When Dad took this job, he sat me down and gave me a choice: either I could marry Dominic or I could come live in England with the rest of the family. It took me all of two seconds to make my decision. It'll be a long time before I ever attempt a relationship again. Even being here with the war raging and the city being bombed is better than having to deal with romance. If I'm lucky enough, I'll never have to deal with it again.

'I'm not sure if I'll live long enough to see it through again.' I thought as I heard the sirens start to go off.

"To the bomb shelter now." Mom told Violet and Jane hurriedly, before looking to me, "Find Zoe, make sure she's not left behind."

"Ours has been blasted to pieces in the last raid, I don't think that's going to be much help now." Violet argued, "Where the hell are we supposed to go?"

"Language, Violet." Mom chided, "We don't have the time to argue about this, Mrs. Pevensie knows about our shelter and has offered to share hers. Now go!" She commanded. Jane and Violet ran out of the house and to the Pevensies like two bats out of hell. They didn't stop sprinting until their house.

"Where are you going?" I asked her concerned as she headed up the stairs.

"I need to get something, I'll be with you as soon as I find it." She replied calmly, "Find your sister and go, Alice. Do not wait for me and do not argue, just go."

"But-"

"I'll be with you as soon as I can."

I ran off to find Zoe, who had been in her room with that damn cat she had found days ago. I narrowed my eyes at her, "Mom told you to get rid of that."

"Her name is Nessa." She retorted holding the black cat closer to her. I shook my head, now was the worst possible time for this, "I couldn't let her go back out there, not in that."

"Fine take her with you, we have to go." I replied, taking her hand and running to the Pevensies.

"Where's your mother?" Mrs. Pevensie asked when she saw me.

"She said she had to get something." I replied as she helped Zoe into the shelter. She sighed and nodded as if she had expected the answer. "Where are the boys?" I asked confused as I started to head in.

"Peter went after Edmund." She replied concerned, "He ran back into the house."

"How long have they been in there?" I watched in horror as a bomb dropped close to their home, "Do you want me to after them?"

"No, I'd rather you watch the younger girls." She replied, "I'll watch for the boys and your mother."

I nodded, "Thank you." I went inside. Lucy and Susan were on the bottom bunk bed, Violet and Jane, fearlessly, took the top. Zoe was on the floor next to the bed with her cat. Mom was in a minute later, she thanked Mrs. Pevensie and sat on the floor near Zoe. The only ones were waiting for were Edmund and Peter. Mrs. Pevensie stood watch by the door.

"C'mon!" She called, when she saw them, coming out from the shelter to usher them in. Peter pushed Edmund in through the door in front of him so they could get in faster.

"Why can't you care for anyone, but yourself?" Peter asked him frustrated, "You're so selfish! You could have got us killed!"

"Stop it." Mrs. Pevensie stopped him from starting a rant. It was clear that Edmund felt bad and was upset. His mother pulled him into her to comfort him.

"Why can't you just do as you're told?" Peter asked him exasperatedly, before shutting the door. He sat down by me.

"It's not so easy being the eldest." I commented to him once everything had quieted down and everyone was either asleep or in their own conversations.

"No, it's not." He shook his head in agreement, "Do any of your sisters give you a hard time?"

"All three of them are difficult in different ways." I replied, "But if you are referring to your brother, I would have to say possibly Zoe." I looked down at her, she was probably having the best interaction she's had with Edmund since she had met him. She was interacting with the cat and he was conversing with her. "I've always found with the one I've always had the most difficulty with is the one I have the most in common with. Zoe and I, we go to the beat of the same drum, just at different paces. As we get older that difficulty will turn into an understanding and the obstacles will start to fade. I just have to be patient and let her make her own mistakes, and be there when she needs me to be, until that happens." I looked back at Peter, "No matter how much you would like to, Peter, you cannot control when a person grows up. You try and then the person does not become who they are supposed to be. They become whom you would like them." I looked down at my locket, which I had had for years. I had found it one day in the attic of our last house, there was something about the necklace that just told me it was supposed to be mine. "You're only thirteen, Peter. Don't be in a rush to grow up yet, I know with everything going on that sounds impossible, but this war is going to age and take a lot from you anyway, try not to let it get everything from you, at least not yet."

"I'll keep that in mind, Alice."

 **Zoe's POV**

"So what did you end up naming her?" Edmund asked casually.

"Well, at first I was going to name her Persephone, but that seemed like a bit of a mouthful." I replied, "So I named her Nessa."

"Why?"

"Black cats scare people, and so I thought about other things that scare people, and then I thought of Loch Ness, and that brought me to Nessa, and she seemed to like that." I explained simply.

"Is your mum going to let you keep her?"

"I don't know, she just found out I still had her." I replied, "I hope she does though, it'd be nice to have a pet again. Have you ever had a pet?"

"No." He shook his head, "Did you have a cat before you left?"

"No, we had a dog." I answered, "We had to give him to a neighbor; the ship wouldn't allow us to bring pets with us."

"Do you miss him?"

"A little." I replied softly, "He was Violet's dog more than anyone else's though." I looked down at the picture by his side, "Is that your dad?"

He silently nodded sadly.

"You miss him?"

"Yeah."

"I miss mine too." I told him softly.

"At least you know he's coming back." He replied; I was surprised at how he said it though. He wasn't trying to be spiteful, guilting, or mean, he was trying, in his own way, to be comforting. "Do you think when he comes back, you'll leave?"

"I don't know." I replied, "Do you want me to?"

"I don't know." He answered honestly, "I've kind of gotten used to you."

 **Jane's POV**

"What are you writing?"

I looked down to see Susan looking up at me curiously. I looked over at Violet to see if she would say something, so I could continue what I was writing, but she was already fast asleep. I had to answer Susan myself.

"It's a journal," I replied, "I like to record things."

"Like what?" She asked.

"I don't know, like growing up in California, moving here, what I think of living here and the war." I answered, "I've written a lot of things in here."

"What do you think of living here?"

"I miss home." I told her honestly, "I don't understand why we had to move. We left from one of the safest places to probably one of the most dangerous. I want to go back, but unfortunately due to my age, I can't go back on my own."

"I think that's the most I've ever heard you say." She commented stunned.

"I guess I just don't have a lot to say."

"You must if you can fill up all of those pages." She replied, referencing where I was at in the current journal I was in. To be fair though, this journal is small and my handwriting is kind of big.

"I prefer to express myself through writing."

"Why?"

"I don't have to think about what I write before I write it, I can just write." I answered, "I usually have to think about what I say before I talk to people because I don't want to offend anyone. Many do not take well to things that are just beyond their understanding."

Before she ask me anymore questions, I looked back down at my journal and continued to write. Something told me I wouldn't have the ability to keep up with it as much soon.


	2. Chapter 2: Ever the Same

**Chapter Two: Ever the Same**

 _ **"Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving." ― Albert Einstein**_

 **Violet's POV**

A few days after the raid, we were brought to the train station. We were being evacuated to the country.

"Alice, you will look after the others?" Mom asked her imploringly.

"Of course." Alice replied, holding Zoe close to her, "Nothing is going to happen to them."

"Be good girl and stay out of trouble, Zoe." Mom kissed her head.

"I'll try." She replied sadly.

Mom turned to me and Jane, "Mind your manners while you're there, girls." She hugged us, we agreed to behave. It was the least we could do for her.

The goodbye wasn't tearful for us or for her. We knew we would come back, but to what, we were unsure. We knew this was for this best. I think Jane and I were more annoyed than sad, we didn't want to move overseas, and now we were being moved again; and with each move, our family got smaller. The way this continues, soon it will just be Zoe. There was one slight upside to this move though, the Pevensies were going to the same area of the country with us. At least with this move, we knew someone, and hopefully, together, we'll all be able to make it through this.

We got on to the train and went into the first compartment we could find that wasn't crowded. We shared the compartment with two little boys who couldn't be older than Lucy. They were so small. We let them have the window seats, so they could at least look out the window. From the looks of their tags, they had a much longer trek than we did.

"Where are you going?" Alice asked Zoe, seeing her stand up when the train stopped for the first time.

"I'm gonna go look around." She answered.

"What-" I started to ask her.

"I promise I won't get off the train." She assured Alice, "And if I go too far down and forget the compartment number, I'll ask for help."

"Alright, but try not to stray too far." Alice agreed, "And if you forget the compartment number and you run across the Pevensies first, stay with them. Peter has already been made aware that we're both getting off on the same stop. He'll look after you until you can get back to us."

"I will." She nodded, "Thank you!" She left the compartment as the train started to move again.

"Why did you let her go?" I asked Alice surprised.

"She would go if I agreed or not." She replied, "I was surprised she even asked."

 **Zoe's POV**

 _'Okay, this was a very good and very bad idea.'_ I thought twenty minutes into my journey around the train. I was caught by one of the attendees, how was I supposed to know we weren't allowed to leave our compartments once the train started moving. The man took hold of my arm and started to escort me to a compartment.

"Wait!" I struggled, "Let me go!"

He ignored me and continued to drag me down the hall.

"Can't you hear me?!" I cried, "Let me go!"

The man stopped and turned, causing me to turn with him. It was Peter, who had spoken up, stepping out of his compartment.

"C'mon Zoe, you've been out of the compartment long enough." He told me. I looked at him surprised. The man let go of my arm and I ran to Peter. He kneeled down to meet my eye level, and asked quietly enough for only me to hear him, "Did you really think I was going to let him take you away?"

I thought about it for a moment before shaking my head.

"Where are your sisters?" He asked.

"I forgot which compartment they were in." I answered.

He nodded in understanding, he wasn't very surprised that I was out. He had known me long enough not to be. "Why don't you stay with us until we get off?"

I nodded. He led me into the compartment.

"Zoe, what are you doing here?" Lucy smiled.

"Got lost." I replied simply.

"One of the train attendants was going to take her to a random compartment." Peter added.

"You shouldn't have been wandering around the train." Edmund told me as I sat down across from him.

"I got bored." I responded.

"You could have looked out the window or talked to one of your sisters." Susan pointed out.

"Why would I want to do that?" I asked tilting my head. Susan's jaw dropped in surprise at my answer. Edmund bit back an amused smile. "Either way, they were all kinda busy: Alice was reading a book, Jane was writing, and Violet had just gotten out a magazine when I left."

"What kind of magazine?" Lucy asked.

"Sports." I replied simply. After I responded, Susan and Peter started to read, Lucy read Susan's book with her. Edmund and I looked out the window and watched as we went through the towns, once in a while sparking a small conversation with one another.

The train stopped again a couple of hours later and we all got off.

"She didn't cause you guys too much trouble, did she?" Alice asked us as they came over to us. She handed me my luggage.

Peter shook his head, "Not at all."

"Peter had to get her from a train attendant who was going to take her to compartment, so she wouldn't roam around the train." Susan told them. Violet opened her mouth to speak, but Jane spoke up instead, pulling my coat from Alice's loose grip.

"Are you okay, Zoe?" Jane asked, helping me with my jacket.

I nodded, "Yeah."

She looked up at Peter, "Thank you for look after her."

"It was no trouble really." He replied quickly, turning slightly pink.

We heard a car come by and we all raced to meet it, but it passed us by.

"The professor knew we were coming." Susan stated.

"Perhaps we were incorrectly labeled." Edmund suggested.

A horse and cart came by and stopped in front of the eight of us.

"Mrs. McCready?" Peter asked her. Alice, Violet, Jane and I sat down since this was obviously not the person we were staying with.

"I'm afraid so." She answered, "Is this it then? Haven't you brought anything else?"

"No Ma'am, it's just us." Peter responded.

"Small favors." She grimaced, looking at the state of them. She looked passed the Pevensies and at us. "The four of you girls," Mrs. McCready said to my sisters and I; we looked up at her confused, "Are you the Porter sisters?"

"We are, Ma'am." Alice answered, standing. We hesitantly stood up as well.

"Mr. Thatch and his wife have recently moved." Mrs. McCready stated, "The Professor has decided that the four of you will also be staying with us."

Jane, Violet, and I looked at each other surprised. Alice was unfazed

"That was very kind of him." Alice told her.

"C'mon, we don't have all day." She told all of us. We quickly put our luggage in the cart and piled in. We drove away from the train station and to the Professor's home.

 **Jane's POV**

"Professor Kirke is not accustomed to having children in this house and as such there are a few rules that will need to be followed." Mrs. McCready stated as we walked into the mansion, "First off, there'll be no shoutin', or runnin', or improper uses of the dumb waiter." She list off. Susan started to hold out her hand to touch one of the busts on the stairs. "No touchin' of the historical artifacts." She scolded Susan. Edmund and Zoe chuckled quietly. Peter and Violet started to silently chuckle as well. It wasn't often Susan did something wrong. "And above all, there'll be no disturbin' of the professor."

We followed her up the stairs and through the second floor hall.

"You boys will take these two rooms here." She stopped abruptly. Peter and Edmund each went into the room to set their luggage down and unpack. "The Pevensie girls will take the two rooms across from them." She told us, Susan and Lucy went into what I'm only guessing would be Lucy's room for our duration here to get her settled in. Mrs. McCready looked at my sisters and I, "Two of you will take the rooms next to the boys and the other two will take the two rooms next to the girls. You may decide amongst yourselves which, I have work I must get back to." She left us to make our decision.

"Jane, you and Violet take the rooms next to Susan and Lucy." Alice told them, "I'm going to set up Zoe in the room next to Edmund's and I'll go into the room next to hers."

Violet and I nodded, I took the room next to Susan since I didn't mind her as much as Violet did and she took the room next to mine. Alice and Zoe went into the room next to Edmund's, so they could unpack.

I walked into the room that I would be occupying for a while and looked around, there wasn't much to it, not that I really needed anything more than a bed, a dresser, and nightstand. The room had those and a closet. It also had a desk with a small shelf for books at the top of it and a matching chair. The bed was massive, it took up quite a bit of the room. There was barely room for anything else. I put my suitcase on the bed and started to unpack.

 **Alice's POV**

Zoe's room was a little massive for her, but it was definitely better than being in the city right now. She had room for the few stuffed animals she brought with her and a few more if she had managed to pick up a few while we were living here. She had closet and dresser. There were a few books in the nightstand drawer: Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina, Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans, and Winnie the Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne. They were all relatively new and obvious that they were expecting young children. There a small book case as well that was filled with books on the shelves:

\- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll

\- The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald

\- The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

\- The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter

\- A Little Princess and The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

\- Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery

\- Peter and Wendy by J. M. Barrie

\- Mary Poppins by P. L. Travers

\- Complete collections of Hans Christian Anderson and Grimm Fairytales

\- Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild

\- The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain

\- The Story of My Life by Helen Keller

There were several other books, but those seemed to stick out in my mind. They weren't ours and I couldn't see Mrs. McCready buy us anything. This had to be from the mysterious Thatches or the Professor. It was obvious who ever these books belonged to they were expecting a little girl, many of them were too new for whomever they belonged to have had them for a while. I pulled out Alice in Wonderland, but just when I was about to open it and flip through the pages, Susan knocked on the door.

"Mrs. McCready told us to tell you that dinner's ready." She told us, before looking around the room. The books caught her eye like they did mine. "Did you bring those from home?" She asked confused.

"No, they were here when we got here." I answered.

"Jane's got a writing desk filled with paper, notebooks, pencils, and pens in her room and Violet has sporting equipment and magazines in her room." Susan listed off, "Where did they come from?"

"I couldn't tell you." I replied, sort of wondering what was left in my room, if there even was anything. "I don't know."

"How weird."

"Yeah, it is." I agreed, "I'm gonna go put my stuff in my room and I'll be down in a moment."

Susan nodded and headed out.

"Go ahead down, Zoe" I told her, "I'll be down in a bit."

"Alright." She shrugged and headed out the down. "Someone left a bunch of stuff in my room." I heard her say to someone.

"Really?" I could hear Lucy's reply, "Like what?"

"Books from what I can tell." She replied.

I shook my head as I picked up my luggage and went into my room, what greeted me when I went inside was the largest and most diverse collection of books I had ever seen in my life. The walls, from the floor to the ceiling, were lined with bookshelves; there was a ladder by the door to reach the upper shelves.

"What the…" I couldn't bring myself to finish my sentence. I had never seen so many books in my life. When over by bed and set down my luggage on it. There was a small book lying on the pillow, it was Beauty and the Beast, a fairy tale that my parents had read to me when I was little. I opened the cover of the book and there was an inscription: _'To my princess, I know these gifts do not make up for everything, but I hope it is a start. I'll be with you and your sisters soon. Love always, Dad.'_

I read over the inscription multiple times, there was no denying it was Dad's messy and tight handwriting. I just couldn't believe or figure out how he did it. I put the book back down on the bed and went to join my sisters and the Pevensies.

"Did you have a bunch of stuff in your room?" Violet asked me as I sat down.

"Uh, yeah." I nodded, "I have my own personal library."

"Who would-"

"It was Dad." I cut her off before she could ask.

"What?" She asked confused.

"One of my books had an inscription in it." I told her.

"I see you have found the gifts left in your rooms." Mrs. McCready commented stoically as she sat down.

"Well, they were kind of hard to miss." Violet replied sarcastically.

"You would do well to remember to mind your attitude and your tongue." Mrs. McCready scolded her. Before Violet could open her mouth to retort, but Mrs. McCready continued, "Your father was a friend of Mr. Thatch's and both men knew the Professor well. When Mr. Thatch had to leave, your father asked the Professor to make your stay as comfortable as possible. The Professor obliged the foolish man's request-"

"Our father is not foolish!" Jane snarled, she may be the quiet sort, but when it came to family, she would pull out all of the stops, quiet and shy or not. "He's brilliant. We wouldn't be in this godforsaken country if he wasn't. We would be safe at home in California and not here!" She stood, "Maybe you should mind your attitude and your tongue when you speak to someone and remember you who you're speaking with when you say things like that."

"How dare you." Mrs. McCready stood, "Haven't your parents ever taught you to respect your elders?"

"No." Jane replied soundly, "I was always told us to respect people who deserved my respect. I've lost my appetite" She left the table and went back upstairs to her room.

"Jane!" Violet called after her and followed her twin up the stairs.

"I'm sorry for my sister's behavior." I apologized, "We've been through a lot in this past year."

"Alice?" Zoe tried to get my attention.

"Just eat, Zoe." I replied, "We can talk about it later."

"Okay." She agreed. The rest of the dinner, we ate in silence.

After dinner, I got Zoe into bed and checked on Violet and Jane were already asleep on Jane's bed. I didn't see a need to wake them, so I covered them with the blankets and turned out the light. Violet could sleep in her bed tomorrow night.

"Are they alright?" Peter asked as I passed him on the way to my room.

"Yeah." I answered, "Mrs. McCready just struck the wrong chord."

"That's good." He replied, "I was worried about he-" He stopped and corrected himself, "them."

"If you like her, Peter, maybe you should try talking to her." I suggested. I had seen the way he had looked at her when she wasn't looking. It was almost kind of sweet.

"What do I say?" He asked.

"Anything." I smiled, "Except for what Mrs. McCready said, don't say that."

"I don't plan on it."

"Goodnight, Peter." I gave him half a smile and went to my room, shutting the door behind me. I picked up the book on my bed, placed it on the nightstand and then got ready for bed.


	3. Chapter 3: Eyes Wide Open

**Chapter Three: Eyes Wide Open**

" _ **Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like." - Lao Tzu**_

The next day it poured and we were all stuck inside. Violet, Zoe, and I amused ourselves playing cards. Jane played some type of game involving a dictionary or encyclopedia with the Pevensies.

"Gastrovascular." Susan said once she found a word. When Peter didn't respond, she looked up from the book, "C'mon Peter, gastrovascular."

"I don't know." He replied bored out of his mind, "Is it Latin?

"Yes." She responded.

"Is it Latin for worst game ever invented?" Edmund asked snarkily, smirking. Peter suppressed a laugh.

"It means functioning in digestion or circulation." Jane answered, "Although, I would have to say I might like Edmund's definition more."

Susan slammed the book closed.

"We could play hide and seek." Lucy suggested, walking over to Peter from her seat in the window.

"I like that idea." Zoe agreed.

"That could be fun." Jane smiled.

But we're already having so much fun." Peter looked quickly at Susan and then back at Lucy.

"C'mon Peter, please." Lucy begged.

"We could all play." Violet added, "It'd be a lot more fun than sitting around here. I've been beating their butts at cards all day."

"Hey, I won the last two hands." Zoe corrected her.

"Peter, please." Lucy begged him again.

"1…2…3…" Peter started to count.

"What?" Edmund asked in disbelief, but Peter kept counting.

"Don't question it, Edmund." Zoe told him, getting up, "Just move, we have to find a place to hide." She went over to him, helped him up, and they ran out of the room.

"Jane?" Violet looked at her and jerked her head to the side, Jane nodded in agreement, and they ran out of the room to find a place to hide. Knowing them, it would be somewhere high up.

"C'mon Alice." Lucy grabbed my hand and we headed out of the room.

We eventually found a curtain to hide behind, but Edmund and Zoe got their before us.

"We were here first." Edmund told Lucy.

"Ed-" Zoe started.

Edmund looked at her imploringly, "We were."

"Lucy, I bet we could find somewhere better than behind a curtain to hide." I told her, "We have a bit more imagination than he does." I gave her a smile. She smiled back at me and we ran off to find a new hiding spot.

Most of the doors were locked as we went down the hallway. We had finally found one that was unlocked, but it was practically empty. The only thing in the room was an enormous piece of furniture covered by a large white sheet.

"Maybe we-" I started, but Lucy shook her head.

"No, I think we might be able to hide here." She closed the door behind us. We walked into the room and Lucy pulled the sheet, uncovering a wardrobe. She smiled, "I think we've found our hiding spot." She opened the door and we both headed in. I shut the door behind us and we tried to get as far back as we could into the wardrobe. Suddenly, Lucy stopped, "Um, Alice?"

"Yeah?" I asked, starting to get confused as to why it was suddenly freezing.

"Turn around." She told me.

"What the…" I couldn't finish my sentence, I was too astounded at the sight before me. We had been transported to a Winter Wonderland. I had never seen snow before, well except in the movies, but this, this was real. We further out into the snowy forest in wonderment. We eventually made our way to a lamppost.

Lucy stopped and touched the lamppost, looking around, "Where do you think we are?"

"Wonderland." I replied absolutely bewitched by the forest, and the snow, and the smell of the pine. Lucy chuckled softly, "Let's just hope it isn't as crazy."

Before Lucy could reply, we heard something scrambling around in the woods. I pulled Lucy closer to me. We had no clue where we were, it was better to be safe than sorry. A creature ran out of the woods. Lucy and I screamed as did he, the packages he was carrying flew on to the ground. Lucy hid behind me and we hid behind the lamppost. He hid behind a tree. He seemed just as scared as we were. I looked down at Lucy and then we both looked over at him. Neither of us were as scared anymore. We picked up his packages as we walked over to him.

"I apologize if we startled you, we're a bit lost." I told him as he came out from behind the tree.

"Were you hiding from us?" Lucy asked him.

"No…" He replied hesitantly, and then stuttered, picking up the two bottles, "I…No, no…I…" He gently took the packages I was holding. I gave him a shy smile. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped slightly as his cheeks started to redden. "I just didn't want to scare you."

"I'm not scared; I was, but not anymore." I told him, I looked back at Lucy, "Are you?"

She shook her head, and then looked over to him, "If you don't mind my asking, what are you?"

"Well, I'm a-" He seemed slightly confused at her question, not at what she was asking, but why, "I'm a faun."

"And what about you?" He asked Lucy, and then guessed, "You must be a beardless dwarf?"

"I'm not a dwarf." Lucy told him, "I'm a girl, we both are." She signaled to me. "And actually, I'm tallest in my class."

"I'm one of the shortest in mine." I commented. It won't be long before Jane and Violet are taller than I am.

"You mean to say, you're both are daughters of Eve?" He asked us, trying to clarify.

"Well, my mom's name is Helen." She replied confused.

"I think he means like that woman, who overly religious people think started the human race." I told her.

"How long has it been since you have been to church?" She asked, looking at me bewildered.

"About thirteen years." I answered, "My mom was finally able to convince my dad that there was really no need in going."

"Oh." She replied not really understanding.

"But you both, are in fact, human?" The faun asked us, trying to bring us back to the topic at hand.

"Yes, of course." Lucy answered. He looked around confused and scared. By the look on his face, it looked like he was hoping no one else heard us.

"What are you doing here?" He asked us.

"Well, we were hiding in the wardrobe in the spare room-"

"Spare Oom?" He asked confused, "Is that in Narnia?"

"What is Narnia?" Lucy asked him.

"I think that's where we are." I told her.

The faun nodded, "It is. Everything from the lamppost to Castle Cair Paravel on the eastern ocean," He pointed out to us, "every stick and stone you see, every icicle is Narnia."

"It's an awfully big wardrobe." Lucy commented.

"I don't think it matters how big it is." I responded, "Wonderland is down a rabbit hole and Oz is through a twister, but a wardrobe is definitely a new one."

"Wardrobe." The faun smiled, "I'm sorry, please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Tumnus."

"Please to meet you Mr. Tumnus." Lucy smiled, "I'm Lucy Pevensie." She held out her hand him to shake it. He looked at her hand bewildered. "Oh, you shake it." She informed him.

"Why?" He asked confused.

"Good question." I commented, "It's just what people do."

"People do it when they meet each other." Lucy told him, not knowing why people do it either. Tumnus didn't understand it, but he obliged and gently took her fingers and shook them. I smiled lightly in amusement. Lucy swayed their hands back and forth and then let go of his hand.

"And may I ask what is your name?" Tumnus asked me kindly.

"My name's Alice." I introduced myself, "Alice Porter."

"Lovely…" He responded softly.

"What?" I asked him, thinking I had misheard him.

"It's lovely to meet you." He said again, slightly flushing as he kissed my hand.

"It's nice to meet you too." I replied as he let go of my hand.

"Well then, Lucy Pevensie and Alice Porter, from the shining city of Wardrobe, in the wondrous land of Spare Oom, how would it be if you came to have tea with me?" He asked us, pulling his umbrella back up.

"Well, thank you very much." Lucy replied, "But we probably should be getting back."

"It's only just around the corner." He implored, "There'll be a glorious fire, with toast, and tea, and cakes, and perhaps, we'll even break into the sardines."

"I don't know." She replied, looking back at me, "Alice?"

"It's your call, Lucy." I told her.

"But I'm asking you." She responded.

"I'm always up for an adventure." I told her, "And he seems harmless." I added, looking him up and down. Even if he wasn't, which didn't seem likely, I could protect the two of us.

"Well, I suppose we could come for a little while." She told Tumnus as she picked up a package, "And you do have sardines." She tucked her arm around his.

"By the bucket load." He told her. We left the lamppost and made our way through the woods to his home. Lucy stopped when she saw the door to his house that looked like it was carved into a rock. "Well, here we are." He told us, "C'mon."

We followed him into his house. Lucy went in first, holding the door open for me, and I held the door open for Tumnus. He thanked me as he came inside.

"No problem." I smiled, helping him with his packages that he had in his hands.

"That is my father." Tumnus commented to Lucy, who was holding up a picture.

"He has a nice face." She responded, "You look like him."

"No." He replied sadly, looking into the fire, "I'm not like him at all really."

"My father's fighting in the war." Lucy told him, "So is Alice's…"

I wasn't going to tell Lucy that there was a huge difference between what our fathers were doing in the war. She was too young to understand.

"My father went away to war too." He turned to look at her in surprise at her confession, "But that was a long, long time ago, before this dreadful winter."

"Winter's not all bad." Lucy told him.

"I think this is kind of pretty." I added, "But what would I know, I've never seen snow. There's so much more things you could probably do in the winter when it snows. There's sledding, ice skating, and snowball fights."

"Oh, and Christmas."

"No, not here." Tumnus told us, as he came over with a tray, "There hasn't been a Christmas here in over a hundred years."

"What?" Lucy asked sadly, "No presents for a hundred years."

"Always winter, never Christmas." Tumnus said sitting down, "It's been a long winter, but you both would have loved Narnia in summer." He gave us both a cup of tea, he poured cream into Lucy's cup and silently asked if I would like some and I shook my head. "We fauns danced with the drags all night, and you know, we never got tired. Music, ah, such music." He reminisced, "Would you like to hear some now?" He asked us.

"Yes, please." She smiled.

"Now are you familiar with any Narnian lullabies?"

"Sorry, no." Lucy answered.

Tumnus looked to me.

"I'm not from anywhere around here." I told him, "I doubt it."

"Well, that's good." He replied, looking at his instrument, "Cause this won't sound anything like one." He added, before he started to play. After a while Lucy started to watch the fire, I watched Tumnus, something didn't feel right. After a while, Lucy started to fall asleep. A roar of a lion and all of the candles going out stopped him from playing.

"So, what was your master plan, Tumnus?" I asked him, "Were we both supposed to fall asleep and you turn us over to whomever."

"Yes, but I was wrong." He responded, standing and putting away his instrument, "I should have helped you two escape when I saw you both by the lamppost. I should have warned you to go back. I should have never brought you here." He sat down on the staircase.

"Something tells me there were worse things that you could have done to us." I told him, moving closer to him, "What's going on here?" I gently touched his arm and sat down next to him. I knew there wasn't something right here, but I don't think Tumnus was the problem. Something told me that his little situation was insignificant compared to whatever the bigger picture is. "Why is there only winter here? Why were you so surprised to find out we were human?"

"A witch cursed this place, now she rules over Narnia, and the only ones who can stop her are humans." He answered, turning to look at me, "She's placed a ban on humans and anyone is found helping one, they are taken by her guard."

"Then you've put a lot on the line hiding us here." I told him, "And deciding not to turn us over. You aren't turning us over-"

"No." He said quickly, "No, I can't."

"You'll help us leave?" I asked him.

"Of course." He nodded sadly, as Lucy started to awaken, "I'm such a terrible faun."

"No you're not." Lucy told him getting up, "You're the nicest faun I've ever met."

"Then I'm afraid you've had a terrible sampling." He responded.

"You're the only faun we've ever met." I told him.

"That doesn't change what I've said." Tumnus replied, "However, it does make me feel slightly worse."

Lucy pulled out a handkerchief and handed it to him, "You couldn't have done anything that bad."

"Let him explain." I told her as Tumnus started to dry his eyes.

"It's not something I have done, Lucy Pevensie." He responded to Lucy, "It's something I am doing."

"What are you doing?" She asked starting to get scared. This probably wasn't the way I would have told her.

"I'm kidnaping you." He answered sadly and then he started to tell her about the witch and the orders his people had.

"But Mr. Tumnus, you wouldn't…" She replied, he looked down, and then she said sadly and disbelievingly, "I thought you were our friend." Lucy then looked to me, "Why aren't you surprised, Alice?"

"Because I had a chance to talk to him while you were asleep." I told her, "He is our friend, Lucy. He's not going to take us to the White Witch, he's going to help get us back. We're lucky he didn't take us straight to the Witch."

"Alice Porter is right." Tumnus nodded, and then added standing, "But we have to leave now."

Tumnus took Lucy's hand and we rushed out of the house and through the woods back to the lamppost.

"They already know you're here." He told us, "The woods are full of her spies, even some of the trees are on her side." He lead us to the lamppost, which was shining bright, illuminating the area, "Now, can you find your way back from here?"

"I think so." Lucy told him.

"Will you be alright?" I asked him. Tumnus started to cry, Lucy comforted him gently.

"Here." He handed her the handkerchief, but she told him to keep it. He had needed it more than she did at the moment.

"No matter what happens, Lucy Pevensie, I am glad to have met you." He told her sincerely, "You have made me feel more than I've felt in a hundred years. Now go."

Lucy looked to me, "Alice?"

"Go, I'll catch up." I told her. She nodded and ran ahead. I turned back to Tumnus, "Are you sure you're going to be alright?"

"No." He replied honestly, "But I'd rather you have you both safe than worry about my own well-being."

"What you're doing is very brave" I told him, "considering the risks."

"Well, what I was originally planning was immensely cowardly considering the consequences that would lie upon you, Miss Alice Porter." He replied, "I am truly sorry for that."

"I know you are." I told him taking his hands, "I'm not mad at you, Tumnus, what you're doing now makes up for what you were originally going to do." I looked down, "I wish I could stay with you and make sure you were alright, but my sisters, they need me."

Tumnus lifted my head up to look at him, "Go to your sisters, I'll be alright." He gave me a gentle smile, "It was lovely to have met you, Alice Porter. I wish we could do so again, but given the risks-"

"Okay." I agreed.

"Okay?" He repeated confused, "You mean you would like to meet again?"

"I would." I nodded.

"How?"

"I'll come to you, if that's alright."

He nodded, "You should go now though before someone catches us."

"Tumnus-"

"Go." He urged with a small smile.

"I'm going." I replied, "I just wanted to tell you to just call me Alice."

"Goodbye, Alice."

"Bye, Tumnus."

I ran back the way I had originally came, stumbling out of the wardrobe when I got back to the house we were all staying in.

"I don't think Lucy want to play anymore." I heard Peter say.

"I've been gone for hours." Lucy replied, "Alice and I, we left."

"What's going on?" I asked them, coming out of the spare room.

"Lucy thinks you both left for hours." Peter replied.

"We did." I told him, before noticing that the time here hadn't gone by at all, a few minutes at most. ' _Now that's odd.'_

"Where did you guys go?" Zoe asked us curiously.

"Nowhere, they were hiding." Edmund answered.

"But they said they left." Zoe insisted, and then asked us again, "Where did you guys go?"

"We went through this wardrobe in one of the spare rooms to a place called Narnia." Lucy told her, "Where it's always winter and it's always snowing."

"It's snowing?" Violet asked confused as her and Jane walked over to where we were all conjugated, "It's the middle of summer, I didn't think it was that cold."

"It's not." Jane replied, "Where is it snowing?"

"In Narnia." Lucy and I answered.

"What's Narnia?" They asked confused. Lucy explained Narnia again, leaving everyone else, except for Zoe, with confused and disbelieving looks.

"Why don't we check out the wardrobe and see what is there?" Peter suggested.

The skeptics that they were checked the wardrobe inside and out and found absolutely nothing. I knew what I saw and who I met, so I didn't wait around for them to prove me wrong. When you look for something and expect not to find it, you are not going to find it. I went back up to my room and closed the door behind me. I scanned the shelves of all of the books that I had to see if I had anything on mythological creatures. From what I could remember from my literature classes, fauns were half man and half goat creatures from I believe Greek and Roman mythology. The one of the Greek gods was a faun and they were associated with forests and nymphs. I couldn't remember any female fauns, the only ones I knew of were male. Part of me wished I had paid attention in that class.

"They didn't believe me." Lucy cried as she came into my room, "Why would I lie to them about this?"

I pulled her close to me, "I know you're not lying." I ran my fingers through her hair, tucking some loose strands behind her ear, "We know what we saw, but they didn't see what we did or meet Tumnus as we did, so they don't have any proof."

"Why do they need it?"

"Because when you get to be their age, you come to this part of your life when it's very hard to believe in the fantastic." I told her honestly, sitting on my bed. Lucy sat down next to me and listened to what I had to say, "Fairytales and happy ends become very hard to believe in, especially when some of the harshness of reality sets in as you get older. Doubt starts to get in your head and life tends to make you over think things."

"Do you ever grow out of it?"

"I'd like to believe so." I answered, "Eventually something else leads you to believe in all those things again."

"What?"

"I don't know." I answered, "But I'd like to believe it's love."

"Love?"

"Yeah," I told her with a small smile, thinking of a way to explain it, "It would be a type of love that makes you question your reality, where time stops or seems to move slower than usual when you meet them. It makes you confused, yet happy, and that's just when you think of them. When you're with them, nothing else seems to matter. It's like that person is like the other half of your heart and soul and when you're with them, you know them better than you know yourself and things between you just seem to click. And after you've fallen in love with that person and they've fallen in love with you, you would cross lands and seas to be with them. You would go as far as you would have to, so that by the end of the day, it's their hand that is in yours." I tried to explain to her, I didn't think I was explaining it right, but she had an interested and curious smile on her face when I looked down at her, so I must have been doing or saying something right, "Life is made of little moments that just seem to bring you closer to that other person. Stories have been written, songs have been sung, and wars have been fought solely in the name of love. It is one of the greatest forces and feelings that anyone can ever conceive and it can make you rethink everything, and sometimes it makes you rethink things for the better."

"Have you ever been in love?" She asked me curiously.

I shook my head, "No."

"Why?"

"No one has ever really been in love with me." I answered simply. There was no need to tell her the complicated version of that answer.

"How can you tell if someone's in love?"

"They'll go out of their way for you and not think anything of it because they care for you and are always there for you when you need them, they'll call you out when you lie, but in a nice way-"

"Like Zoe does for Edmund sometimes?"

"Yeah." I nodded, "You could say that." I agreed, before continuing, "They'll also remember random little things about you and respect your opinion and your space. They'll listen to you when you want or need them to, and actually hear and understand what you have to say." I told her before thinking about all of the things I had seen and read, "It'll be in the way that they look at you and how they make you feel. They won't care what the risks or consequences are, they just want to be with you, take care of you, and get to know you. They'll trust you no matter what and confide in you because they have the ability to be themselves around you."

"How do you tell if they don't want you to know it yet or if they don't know?"

"Why?" I asked her, "Are you in love, Lucy?"

"No." She smiled widely, shaking her head, "But I think I might be around a lot people who are."

"Well, I guess a way to tell is if they blush or if their face turns red around you." I answered, "It'll be in the way that they smile or the look in their eyes, sometimes they soften or light up depending on the situation when they see you. Sometimes they'll get nervous around you or sometimes they'll stare. It's different for everyone."

"Does it necessarily have to be a human man and human woman?"

I looked at her oddly for a second, what was she getting at, but then replied with my own opinion, "No, it doesn't. It can be between anyone who has the capacity to feel emotion. Anyone can fall in love with anyone else." I looked at the book on my nightstand, and then back to her, "You're not too old for stories, are you?"

She shook her head, "No."

"Have you ever been told the story of Beauty and the Beast?" I asked her.

"I don't think so." She replied unsurely.

"Would you like to hear it?" I asked sincerely.

"What's it about?"

"It's a story about magic and a love that defies all odds." I describe the story, "About two young people with very different backgrounds and appearances found themselves falling in love with one another." I looked down at her, "What do you think, do you want to hear it?"

"Very much."

"Alright, let's see if I remember how it starts." I smiled thinking about it for a moment, this was the first time I had ever told it from memory, "Once upon a time, a long time ago, there was a beautiful maiden from a very small village, who loved her father very much…"

 **Jane's POV**

After the fiasco with the game of hide and seek, I went back to the library with my journal. Sitting in the library, I found myself not writing any entries of my daily life, but instead I found myself writing poetry.

' _Sitting in my spot_

 _In a room made of glass_

 _Writing,_

 _Occasionally glancing up_

 _To watch people pass._

 _The room is always empty,_

 _It makes me feel sort of small._

 _With usually no one to talk to,_

 _Sometimes I wonder_

 _Why I sit here at all._

 _I have my reasons._

 _Most are reasonable,_

 _Although the main reason_

 _Isn't reasonable at all._

 _I stay out here_

 _In this freezing, empty, spacious room_

 _For the boy who lives down the hall._

 _I could go to a study,_

 _Eventually I do._

 _If I was always in a study,_

 _I do know too:_

 _I would never get to know_

 _Anything at all_

 _About the boy who lives down the hall._

 _Sitting in my spot_

 _Doing my work,_

 _In this quiet room_

 _With walls of glass_

 _Just waiting_

 _To see him pass._

 _When I say my helloes,_

 _He'll wave as he goes._

 _Sometimes there's small talk._

 _Once in awhile,_

 _We even hang out!_

… _But that's few and far between._

 _Sometimes I'd sit and wonder_

 _While sitting in my spot,_

 _On days he'd simply pass by_

 _Without ever looking up_

 _Or even saying "hi",_

 _'Would he say anything_

 _If I didn't talk first?_

 _Would he say anything at all?'_

 _Nothing confuses me more_

 _Than the boy who lives down the hall._

 _Weeks passed,_

 _My thoughts wouldn't rest._

 _I decided_

 _To put my thoughts to the test._

 _I concocted an experiment_

 _To see how he'd react._

 _'Would he say anything_

 _If I didn't say anything at all?'_

 _I don't wanna be invisible_

 _To the boy who lives down the hall._

 _In all honesty,_

 _Looking back,_

 _There isn't much to say._

 _It lasted two days._

 _All it took was two days…_

 _Before I left for the weekend,_

 _I hear him say:_

 _'Hey, how are you?_

 _What have you been up to?'_

 _For someone who puts a lot of effort_

 _Into doing absolutely nothing at all,_

 _He put a lot of work_

 _Into proving me wrong._

 _Now I know_

 _What I should have known all along._

 _I have nothing to worry about at all_

 _When it comes to the boy who lives down the hall._

I closed my journal, "This is ridiculous."

"What's ridiculous?" I heard someone ask me. I looked up from my journal to find Peter Pevensie looking at me curiously. I looked back down at my journal shocked, out of all the people to be in the room with me, Peter Pevensie was not who I was expecting to be in the library with me, let alone talking to me. He never talks to me, well not never, but it's definitely rare.

' _Peter Pevensie just talked to you. You have to say something. Anything.'_ I told myself silently as my face started to redden, ' _How do you write so much, and have a little over half of it since we've moved overseas be about him, and not have anything to say when he's actually talking to you?'_ I chided myself, ' _Why am I talking to myself in second person? He must think I'm so weird, what is wrong with me?'_

"We don't have to talk if you don't want to." He told me, "I really kind of just wanted to ask you if you were alright after dinner yesterday and I didn't think you would have wanted to be asked with everyone around. Mrs. McCready never should have said that about father and I thought what you said to her was really brave."

My head instinctively shot up to look at him, "You did?"

"Of course." He replied, "I couldn't have said that to her, especially not the way you did."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome." He replied, "So, how did you know what that word meant earlier?"

"Gastrovascular?" I asked, "I read it a book. I've found that the more I read, the better I write, and with my sister's love of books, I always have a limitless supply at my fingertips."

"That's quite impressive." He responded, sitting down next to me, "You must be really intelligent, or at least, you always sound brilliant."

"I guess." I shrugged, and then set my journal on the table in front of me, "I was smart enough to be given the option to go a year higher in school than I'm supposed to be."

"My year?" Peter asked surprised.

"Violet and I are already in your year." I told him, opening up a bit, "In all honesty, we're closer to your age than Susan's."

"I don't understand." He replied, "All three of you are twelve, I'm thirteen, I'd be at least year or two above you."

"When's your birthday, Peter?" I asked him.

"January." He answered.

"Ours is in August." I told him, "We're only seven months apart. Violet and I make the cut off for our year. So, I had the option to go a year above you and I said no."

"Why?"

"I wanted to stay with Violet." I replied, turning to face him, "I thought it would be harder in a new school being the youngest in my year on my own. At least, if I stayed in my own year, I would have Violet, who doesn't put up with anything or anyone's nonsense. Right now, I would rather survive than be challenged at school."

"What do you mean by survive?" He asked confused.

' _Of course, Mr. Perfect Good Looking Blond has no problems in school.'_ I uncomfortably smiled shaking my head, "Let's just say, life is a bit harder when you're not blond, not exactly overly attractive, and you happen to be smarter than everyone else."

"Being smart is better than being pretty," He replied nervously, "not you have to worry about that either."

"Really?" I asked him wide eyed. I didn't even think I had even heard him correctly.

"Yeah." He looked down. I started to blush, I bit my lip to hide the smile that was starting to form on my face. Peter Pevensie thought I was pretty and smart.

 **Zoe's POV**

"Why did you say what you said to Lucy?" I asked Edmund, as we walked around the mansion.

"It was just a joke, Zo." He sighed.

"Jokes are meant to be funny and timed well, Ed." I told him, "That was neither, it was cruel."

"If you think I'm cruel, then why do you stick around?" He countered.

"Don't pull that with me, Edmund." I stopped him, searching his eyes, he didn't mean it. His eyes said differently, "I stay because I know that even though you don't always act like it, there is good in you." I took his hand, and started to move forward, "Now c'mon, I think I saw a swing."

"Uh, yeah, it was outside." He replied, "And I don't know if you've noticed, but it's raining."

"Are you going to melt?" I asked him, tilting my head to the side a bit.

He looked at me oddly, "No."

"Then let's go." I replied, going down the stairs with his hand still in mine, determined to find that gazebo with the swing outside.

"I'm never going to win with you, am I?"

"Probably not." I replied, "Does that bother you?"

"I'm not sure yet." He replied, as we headed out the door, "Any idea where we're going?"

"I think it's in that general direction." I pointed in front of me.

"You don't remember at all, do you?"

"No." I shook my head, "Do you?"

"Yeah, c'mon." He answered, taking the lead, "Sooner we get you to there, the sooner we can get back inside."

"I'm surprised at you, Edmund." I smiled.

"Why?" He asked confused.

"You're still holding my hand." I pointed out. He looked down at our interlaced hands, and then quickly let go.

"Must have not noticed." He said quickly, shoving his hands into his pockets.


	4. Chapter 4: Strangers Like Me

**Chapter Four: Strangers Like Me**

" _ **I might not yet be falling in love, but I might be flirting with the promise of love, the idea of love, the making of a place in my heart for love, though it may have been more a wish than a promise." ― Diane Meier**_

 **Alice's POV**

Later that night after everyone had gone to bed, I went back to the spare room with the wardrobe to see if I could go back on my own. I opened the wardrobe and stepped inside, closing the door behind me. ' _Please let me see him again…'_ I closed my eyes and made my way to the back of the wardrobe. A rush of cold air brushed by me, I opened my eyes to see the lamppost shining bright in the land of Narnia. I smiled and ran to Tumnus' house as quick as I could, so I wouldn't be caught. When I got to his house, I knocked on the door. I barely knocked on the door before Tumnus opened it.

"Alice…" He smiled, "Come in, before anyone sees us."

I came inside and he closed the door behind us.

"You came…" He said, I couldn't tell if he was asking in surprise or stating a relieved fact.

"I ran all the way here." I told him, "I told you I'd come back to see you."

"Why would you want to?"

"I've never met anyone like you." I answered.

"A kidnapper?"

"You're not a kidnapper, you didn't actually go through with it and you feel guilty for something you didn't even do, it's pretty obvious you're not that type of person." I replied rationally, "And that wasn't what I meant and you know it."

He looked down shyly, "I do." He looked up at me, "I've never met anyone like you either." His eyes softened as he continued to speak, "You must be freezing, come sit by the fire."

I followed him to the chairs by the fireplace, "I am a bit cold." I confessed, "I'm not very used to the cold or snow."

"You were saying yesterday that you had never seen snow." He remembered, "How is that when you and Lucy are from the same land?"

"Where I am from, there are many countries and cities and lands, more than you can imagine." I told him, "The wardrobe and spare room are a very small part of our world." I looked into the fire, "I'm originally from a place where it feels like it's always summertime. Not because of a curse or anything, we have all of our holidays and everything, it's just naturally like that. And you're so close to the ocean that there are beaches as far as the eyes can see with waves that are crystal clear as they roll and crash upon the soft white sand. And in the summer months, there's festivals on the beach and the bands play for hours and they don't stop until the early hours of the morning. It's lively and relaxed and-" I felt a soft hand caressing my cheek softly, it was then that I noticed that I was crying. It had made sense that I was, this was the first time I had really talked about home since I had moved. Tumnus looked at me with eyes full of care and concern, more concern than I had ever seen anyone show me in the last few years. "We had to move. My dad, he was needed in the war effort. He's no soldier, he's an inventor, but they needed him and my mom didn't want to live at home with him so far away, have them be oceans apart, so they compromised with each other. They moved all of us overseas to an area much more plagued by war than our home, and because of how effected it was by war, we were moved again, and that's how I got to the spare room and the wardrobe." I took a deep breath, I felt a little silly, but I needed to let it out. I felt like I had something weighing on me, but whatever Tumnus was doing, even if he was just listening, it was helping, "I had the option to stay home."

"Why didn't you?" He asked gently.

I looked over to him from the fire, he was kneeling in front of me. ' _How long had he been there?'_ I asked myself and then replied, "I had the choice between moving overseas to a country infested by the consequences of war, but with my family, or getting married to a man whom I had been seeing for a little over a year and staying behind, I'd be safe, but with no real guarantee I'd ever see my family again or any ability to get out of the relationship I had found myself stuck in. So, I made the obvious decision and left with my family."

He looked at me almost amused, "Was he that horrible?"

"He wanted someone who would be his everything." I confessed, "He wanted someone to be his best friend, guardian, therapist, and everything that he needed that could take care of him, except for someone he would take care of in a respectable way that still left me my space and independence from him. I don't want make anyone else's decisions for them and I ended up making most of his decisions while we were together for him, and yet bizarrely, every time I would suggest something, it could be anything something to do, somewhere to go, something he hadn't thought of, I was pushed away until he could talk it over with his family, and then immediately dismissed afterward." I thought about my next sentence for a second, so I could figure out how to describe him, "He wasn't a bad guy, he was nice compared to most, but I needed more out of my life."

Tumnus nodded, "Understandable, and the second move?"

"They were evacuating children out of the city cause of the war and my mom and I thought it would be best if I stayed with my sisters."

"How many sisters do you have?"

"Three." I answered, "Jane and Violet are twelve and Zoe is nine."

"You're the eldest."

I nodded, "I am, I'll be nineteen in December."

"December what?"

"The 21st." I replied, "What about you?"

"Well, I'm not quite as young as you are." He stated, "I'm a little over 2350 years old."

"And given the time differences between my land and here, you might be only 23 or 24 where I'm from it's hard to say really." I commented, starting to feel a lot better than I had been.

"Time difference?" He asked confused.

"Yeah, Lucy and I spent hours with you and when we got home it was only a minute or two, if that." I replied, and then asked, "So birthday?"

"Um, it's in the spring actually, not that we've seen one here in over a hundred years." He answered, "It's at the end of the fourth month of the year."

"Okay." I nodded, figuring out the gist of where is birthday was, "So this eternal winter, how does it work? Is time around you sort of stopped and you guys are just living the same day or month or season over and over again, or is it you have every day and month of the year, but it's just always snowing?"

"You know, I'm not quite sure." He replied, getting up, "Would you like some tea?"

"Oh, you don't have to-" I started, but he stopped me before I could finish.

"I want to."

"You sure it's not any trouble?"

"It's not." He smiled, "Would you like some cakes too?"

"How did you-" I started to ask confused.

"I noticed you didn't touch the sardines yesterday." He responded, "You gravitated more towards the cakes, while Lucy went more for the toast and sardines. Would you like some cakes?"

"I don't want to put you out, Tumnus."

"You're not."

"Can I at least help you with the tea?

"Sure." He agreed. I got up and followed him to the kitchen. A few moments later, we heard a knock at the door. He looked to the door worriedly and then looked back to me, "Stay here, I'll see who it is and what they want." He left the kitchen before I could say a word. After a couple of minutes, he returned with Lucy by his side.

"Alice, what are you doing here?" She asked surprised.

"I could ask you the same thing, Lucy." I pointed out, slightly amused, "You were supposed to be in bed, it's late in our world."

"Shouldn't you be in bed too?" She asked, smiling cheekily.

"No." I answered.

"Why not?" She asked confused.

"Because that's usually what happens when you get older." I told her, "You don't typically have a bedtime, it's more based on when you actually feel tired."

"So, tea and cakes?" Tumnus changed the subject.

"Yes please." Lucy agreed.

"Why don't you sit by the fire?" Tumnus suggested to Lucy, "And Alice and I will get the tea and cakes."

Lucy went out of the kitchen and to the fireplace.

 **Zoe's POV**

"Ed, where are you going?" I asked tiredly, when I saw him leave his room. I had heard him moving around through the paper thin walls, I had gotten up to see what was going on.

"Zoe?" He turned around confused, "What are you doing up?"

"I heard you moving around." I replied, "Well, that and this place makes a lot of creepy noises at night." I added, and then asked again, "Where are you going?"

He sighed, "I wanted to check out the wardrobe in the spare room again."

"I thought you didn't believe Lucy and Alice." I replied confused.

"I don't know, if I do or not." He replied, "I saw Lucy go back the spare room, so I thought I would go back."

"Can I come with you?"

"I think it's better if you stayed here." He replied, "It could be dangerous."

"I'm not scared."

"I know you're not, but I don't know if there's anything there anyway."

"You'll tell me if you find anything?" I asked him.

He nodded in agreement, "Yeah."

"Okay."

"I'll be back." He told me before he left.

"Zoe, what are you doing out of bed?" I turned around to see Jane and Peter. Jane had been the one to ask why I was awake.

"I could ask you guys the same thing." I pointed out, before going back into my room, "What's with everyone? Everyone's up except for Susan and Violet."

I pulled one of the books out of my book shelf and started to read, while I waited for Edmund to come back.

 **Alice's POV**

For hours, we sat with Tumnus as he told us stories of Narnia before the Witch had taken over the land. He had a knack for telling stories, I don't think I could ever be bored listening to him. He was the type who could make any story fascinating, he could probably read a phone book aloud and it would be entertaining. Part of me almost wondered if it would be because he would have no idea what it was.

"What of your world?" Tumnus asked us.

"It's not as exciting as here." Lucy replied, and she was partially right, it was different here. I don't know if I would have called it exciting. It was more like something out of a storybook, which is probably what Lucy would call exciting. I didn't know what to call it, it kind of felt nonsensical. I had kind of felt like I had stumbled into Wonderland, both had an evil queen that was driven to madness, you had to get to both through some type of portal, and there are creatures you would never see in your own world that only exist here.

"Do you feel the same way?" Tumnus asked me.

"I think it's like nothing I've ever seen." I replied, thinking of the right way to phrase what I was about to say. It wasn't for Tumnus' sake that I thought over my words, it was for Lucy's. "It's the closest thing I've ever experienced to a fairytale."

"A fairytale?" Tumnus asked confused.

"It's like a myth, but instead of having part of it being possibly real, all of it's completely fiction." I explained, "They're typically used to entertain and sometimes teach lessons."

"You should tell one." Lucy suggested excitedly.

"Oh, Lucy, I don't think Tumnus would be interested-" I started to tell her, but I stopped when Tumnus spoke up.

"Actually, I would like to hear one."

"Alright." I replied, and then thought of something to tell them. I didn't want to tell Lucy the same story twice. Nervously, I started to tell the story of Cinderella as well as I could remember it. "Once upon a time, there was a young girl who lived with her widowed father in a small kingdom. On his travels, the man met a woman whom he quickly remarried, so that he would have someone to take care of his young daughter, Ella." I stumbled over my words, knowing well enough, I was not exactly succeeding with starting out this story well at all. "The woman he had married was a widow and had two daughters over her own. She had been so enchanting and they had had so much in common when they had met, they married days after their first meeting." I told them, starting to feel slightly more comfortable, but still completely nervous as Tumnus looked at me as if I had lost my mind when he had heard the last bit. "The widower brought his new wife and daughters to their new home so that they could be acquainted with his daughter, who was only too happy to welcome them to their family. The welcome would go unwanted by her new mother and sisters. For once they saw the simplicity of their new home and farm, they were disillusioned with the grandeur of the man who owned them. The woman would not have much time to think of her new situation and work something out for the better, for within a month's time, the man had died and she was left with the house, the farm, her two daughters, and Ella."

"I don't remember this version of Cinderella." Lucy commented.

"Neither do I." I responded, "Do you want me to stop?"

"No." Lucy replied quickly.

 **Violet's POV**

I looked out the window and watched the rain, it must have been almost midnight, not that anyone was asleep other than the house staff and Mrs. McCready. It was hard to say if the Professor was or not, I didn't know if he was even home. We hadn't seen him since we arrived yesterday. You know, it's amazing how little notice people give to someone in the background or in my case, sitting in a window. I had seen Alice go by, she had gone down the hall that led to the spare room. Lucy went in the same direction as Alice, they merely missed each other by minutes. Edmund and Zoey passed by a few minutes ago, Edmund ended up also going to the spare room as well. What was with that spare room? It was just a wardrobe, there was nothing special about it. The only ones who seemed normal were Peter and Jane, who had come out of the library with each other, which was odd, but far less so than how any of the others were acting. I don't think I'd ever go as far as to say that Susan was normal. Her need to be right all of the time was exhausting and weird.

"What are you doing up?"

I looked from the window, narrowing my eyes at Susan, "What is everyone doing up?" I asked her, "None of us can sleep. What do you want?"

"Are you always this abrasive?"

"You see you use that word like that and I don't think you know what it means." I replied, "And if I were anything, I'd be audacious."

Susan rolled her eyes. I gathered she wasn't fond of being corrected.

"If you hate it here so much, why don't you just go back instead of lashing out and giving attitude to those who only want to be your friend?" She asked annoyed.

"If you have any suggestions on how I can get back home and be able to live and survive on my own, please let me know." I replied sarcastically, "I'm all ears. Please tell me all of the knowledge and wisdom you've learned in your twelve years, especially about being thousands of miles and an ocean away from home. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this the furthest you've ever been away from home?" I got up from my spot in the window and went to Jane's room, she was already awake, why bother going to mine.

"You know you should probably try to be nicer to Susan." Jane commented as I came in, it wouldn't have been hard to hear our conversation from her room since we were just down the hall.

"I'll be nicer when she stops being so arrogant." I scoffed.

"I don't think that's going to happen." She sighed, putting her book away. "Nor do I think we're gonna go home anytime soon." She turned to face me, "It might be that this is our new home, that England is our new home, and maybe after a while that might be okay. We don't have to like it now and maybe we'll never like it, but we have to try."

"Why?"

"Because we have to try to make the best of this." She answered, "We have to make friends; we have to move on with our lives until we can go back, if we even can and the Pevensies aren't awful people. It could be worse, we could have lived near terrible people who made life hard for us or completely ignored us all together. We got pretty lucky with people who actually care and want to be around us and want to be our friends."

"What did you and Peter talk about while you were in the library for all of that time?" I asked, looking at her in confusion at her sudden change in attitude about this move. She used to hate it as much as I did.

"Life, family, books." She listed off, "I mean he talked more than I did, but that's not really the point."

"You like talking to him." I observed, it wasn't negative or positive, just an observation. I was happy that she was starting to get more confidence, or at least enough to say a few words to him. Eventually, she have enough confidence to actually carry on an equally balanced conversation with him. I was slightly worried that the more she gravitated towards him, the more she pulled away from me. I knew that was supposed to happen, but I didn't think it would start this soon.

"I do." She nodded, softly smiling to herself.

"That's good." I replied, "I'm happy for you."

 **Alice's POV**

"What do you mean Cinderella doesn't end up with the Prince?" Lucy asked confused at my sudden turn at where most would end the story. My parents never ended the story with the Cinderella and the Prince together. It had never made any sense to her that Cinderella ended up with the Prince.

"Why would she stay with the Prince?" Tumnus asked confused, "The man scours the kingdom, not for a woman he danced with and knows exactly what she looks like, but for a woman who fits an uncomfortable shoe that was lost on the steps leading on his palace. It was by happenstance that he came upon the same woman."

I looked at Tumnus with a mixture of surprise and one other emotion that I couldn't quite figure out. I was impressed by Tumnus' words, my mom always told me those were a few of the reasons why she had never ended it that way. She had never thought Cinderella would be happy with him, especially when he loved the thrill of the chase more than her. He wouldn't have gone the route of trying to find a woman to fit a shoe if he did.

"But he did all that because he love her…" Lucy replied at a loss, "Didn't he?"

"I think he loved her in a way, but not enough to for them to happy." I replied, "You know how we were talking about love earlier?"

Lucy nodded.

"That wasn't the type of love that the Prince felt for Cinderella." I told her, "It was different."

"What kind of love was it?"

"It was one that you'll learn about when you're older." I told her not really knowing how or wanting to explain it to her at such a young age. ' _One you might experience, but I hope for your sake, you won't have to.'_

"So, if Cinderella didn't end up with the Prince, who did she end up with?" Lucy changed the subject back to the story, "She had to have ended up with someone."

"She did." I agreed, before I started to tell her the ending that my mother always told me and my sisters about how she fell in love with the stable boy, who tended to the royal family's horses, and dreamed of leaving the kingdom, having a family, and opening a bookstore or a bakery, depending on whatever the village needs when he moves there. They had gotten to know each other over the months before she was supposed to marry the Prince, while spending every morning together before the morning rides she would take to clear hear her head. She wasn't aware what she was getting into when she had left with the Prince, all of the things she would have to learn and the things she was restricted from with her new title. She met the stable boy and was instantly drawn in by his intelligence, kindness, and compassion. He was as handsome as he was kind, with his piercing blue eyes. He was just as attractive as the Prince, but in a different way. While the Prince was blond, tall, charming and dashing, the Stable Boy was dark haired, average height (possibly a little shorter), humble and sincere. They fell deeply in love and ran away and got married. Together, they opened a bakery, had a small family, and lived happily ever after. And the Prince, well he found another woman, a Princess with long golden hair, who was high up in a tower. He didn't end up with that Princess either.

 **Jane's POV**

 _June 12/13, 1940_

 _It's so close to midnight, I didn't think it would be smart not to put the 13_ _th_ _on here, since I know I will be writing well into the early hours of tomorrow morning since two huge things happened today: Peter talked to me and Alice might have lost her mind._

 _I should probably start off with Alice losing her mind. So, we were playing hide and go seek cause it was raining and like a minute after hiding, Lucy and Alice come out of a wardrobe saying that they had been to some other world and had been gone for hours. Lucy, I get. She's a little kid with an active imagination, but Alice? At first, I thought she was placating her, but she actually believes it. So, obviously she's lost it, right? There can't be other worlds, wouldn't we have known about them? Alice doesn't lie, but time travel or traveling to alternate worlds seems a bit far-fetched, doesn't it? She has to be, hasn't she? What other explanation can there be? If she is, that's between you, Violet, Zoe, the Pevensies, and me. There's no need to ruin her life over something as trivial as believing in another world, one possibly more exciting than our own._

 **Alice's POV**

"Now that is an ending that makes far more sense." Tumnus commented when I finished. From what I could gather, he liked my ending of the story.

"I always thought Cinderella wanted to end up with the Prince." Lucy told me.

"And in many versions, she does, but she never wished to end up with the Prince, even in the original story, she only asked for a night off and a dress." I replied, "I don't think Cinderella would have learned anything if she had stayed with the Prince. It would have been like if The Little Mermaid had lived and married the Prince she had fall in love with."

"Little Mermaid?" Tumnus asked curiously.

"I think that might be a story for another time." I responded, "We should probably be heading back soon."

Tumnus looked down and then reluctantly nodded in agreement.

"I don't know we should head out together though." Lucy told me, "What if we're caught?"

"She is right." Tumnus agreed, "There is a chance you both could be found."

"Alright, I'll meet you in the spare room, Lucy." I told her, "Do me to go first-"

"I'll go." Lucy volunteered as she stood, "I'll meet you outside of the wardrobe."

"Okay." I nodded, "Be careful."

"I will." She promised me.

"I'll walk you out." Tumnus told her, standing on his feet, well hooves. They left the sitting room and he escorted her out the door. He came back inside a few minutes later. He picked up her cup and started to clear her dishes.

"Here, let me help you." I offered, picking up an empty tea tray on the table and gently piled the dishes on, being careful not to chip, scratch, or break the ones I handled.

"You are my guest," Tumnus tried to argue, "You do not have to do that."

"You are my friend." I pointed out, "And I helped make this mess, so let me help clean up after it."

"Thank you" He replied.

We picked up the rest of the dishes and went back to the kitchen to clean them. We washed the dishes and cleaned the kitchen.

"Will you come back?" Tumnus asked hopefully.

I nodded, "I will."

 **Zoe's POV**

I heard the door to my room shut a little while after I started my book. I looked up at Edmund, raising an eyebrow. "Hello Edmund."

"It's real." He told me, "The land Lucy and Alice were talking about, Narnia, it's real."

"I told you." I replied, "Alice doesn't lie." I put my book away on the shelf, I knew I wasn't going to be finishing it tonight. "So, what was it like?"

"Cold." He stated, "There was snow everywhere and there was nothing around for miles that I could see except for a lamppost. I met the Queen of Narnia, at first she nearly ran over me with her sleigh and her servant tried to kill me, but then, she gave me hot chocolate and Turkish delight. She wants me to come back to Narnia and bring my siblings with me to her house. I ran into Lucy after the Queen left, Lucy called the Queen a witch."

"Is she?" I asked.

"Well, she can do magic, but she was kind to me."

"Anyone who wants something is going to be kind, it doesn't mean she is." I replied, "But Lucy saw you and you guys came back together?"

"Yeah, but I took care of that." He stated.

"What do you mean?"

"She went running to Susan and Peter saying that she went back to Narnia and that I saw it too, and when they started questioning me about it, I told them we were just pretending." He explained, "Lucy went out crying and Peter and Susan went out after her. When I saw Peter and Susan, they were going to talk to the Professor."

I narrowed my eyes at him, "Why would you do that?"

"Why are you mad?"

"I'm not mad." I told him, calmly, "I'm disappointed. I think it might be best if you leave, Edmund."

"Zoe-"

"Please go, Ed." I reiterated.

He sighed and looked down, "I did the right thing." He said before he left. Something told me that whatever conspired between the four Pevensie siblings, it was far from what was right.

 **Alice's POV**

"Lucy?" I called out for her quietly when I came out of the wardrobe.

"I thought if I was patient enough, someone else just might come from that wardrobe." Someone else greeted me. I looked up in surprise at the Professor, "Hello, Miss Porter. Alice, I presume?"

I nodded, "Yes, sir."

"Now, why were you in the Wardrobe?" He asked curiously.

"I don't know if you would believe me if I told you, sir."

"Try me." He smiled.

"There's another world that's through your wardrobe and I just came back from a date for tea with a faun named Tumnus that Lucy Pevensie, the younger Pevensie girl, who is staying with you that just happened to stumble upon because she probably had a similar idea that I had, but for a different reason I did, because I don't think she's quite old enough to have my reason to see Tumnus, I don't even know my reason really."

The Professor cut me off from my ramble and asked kindly, "Why did you want to see him again?"

"I don't know." I told him honestly, "I feel something drawing me towards him."

"Maybe you should keep seeing him until you find out what it is that draws you to him." He suggested, "I would wait till the morning though, something tells me that the world you are seeking will still be there after you sleep."

"You believe me?"

"I don't see a reason not to." He replied and then left.

I went back to my room and went to bed. I would see Tumnus again, or at least try to, tomorrow.


	5. Chapter 5: Adams, Eves, and the Covenant

**Chapter Five: Adams, Eves, and the Covenant of Three**

" _ **Magic exists. Who can doubt it, when there are rainbows and wildflowers, the music of the wind and the silence of the stars? Anyone who has loved has been touched by magic. It is such a simple and such an extraordinary part of the lives we live." ― Nora Roberts**_

The next morning when everyone went outside to play ball, I went back to the spare room to the wardrobe, so I could go to see Tumnus. When I went through the wardrobe to Narnia, something immediate struck my attention that I had not seemed to notice yesterday, it wasn't snowing. There was snow on the ground, but the steady snowfall I had seen in my last two visits had ceased. Part of me wondered if this was normal, but for now I decided to dismiss it. I couldn't dismiss the feeling, however, that washed over me when I came upon Tumnus' home, which was in shambles. Tumnus, himself, was nowhere to be seen. I started to back away, knowing I shouldn't be here at the moment; and if I was going to find Tumnus and help him, I would need help. A snarl stopped me in my place.

"Where do you think you're going, girl?"

"I don't think that's any of your business." I retorted to the wolf, who was coming towards me, deciding it was better to hold my ground than run.

"When a daughter of Eve is in Narnia, they quickly become my business." He countered starting to circle me.

"What are you a vulture?" I spat at him, "And what makes you think that I could be one of Eve?" I asked him snarkily. I knew I was lying and acting differently than who I knew I was, but I had to keep my wits about me. "I highly doubt I would call myself daughter of Eve." I laughed trying to sell my lie, "I'd probably be closer to a daughter of Persephone." I smirked at his confusion to my reference. "Not too well versed in the legends of the realms, are you?" I asked him, catching him off his guard.

"You're coming with me, daughter of Persephone." The wolf stated abruptly, "Her majesty will want to meet you."

"I think I would very much like to meet the woman, who has decided to crown herself queen of this realm." I replied; if this was the way I was going to get to Tumnus, then I should take advantage of it. I could tell I outsmarted the wolf, I just needed to outsmart the witch.

 **Zoe's POV**

"C'mon Vi, show these Brits how to really hit a ball!" I called to her from basically the spot where we had made second base. We were teaching them roughly how baseball was played. The three of us teamed up against the four of them, thought it be easier that way.

"Knock it out of the park, Vi!" Jane cheered her on as well from the first base.

Peter threw the pitch to Violet, who slammed it clear out of the field we were in. Susan scrambled after the ball, while Jane and I ran the bases. Both of us were able to make it to home plate before they came back with the ball, Violet managed to make it to second base. From the looks of it, she hadn't wanted to chance a home run when Susan managed to come back with the ball. It was pretty easy to say they were losing.

"We should play a game we all know how to play." Susan complained, "It isn't fair to play and only have some of us know how."

"Why don't we just switch over to cricket?" Jane suggested, "What do you guys think?"

"We should have done that ages ago." Susan replied, "All three of you knew we weren't getting it."

"We were doing fine." Edmund argued, "If you would have listened to Violet and Zoe explain the rules instead of insisting on playing a different game, you would have understood the game."

"It might be easier if we just switch to cricket." Peter sighed.

"Alright." Jane nodded, "We might as well start setting up what we need."

"Whatever." Violet shrugged, "Not like we'd lose anyway."

Something told me this wasn't going to have a good outcome either.

 **Alice's POV**

The Witch's castle was similar to one I would imagine the Snow Queen would have. I didn't have to question if she had the power to freeze individuals as she did her architecture, she had displayed them proudly in her courtyard as statues. The individuals were not made of ice though, they had been turned to stone.

"A daughter of Eve." The Witch observed when she decided to come into her throne room.

"I'm probably as much of a daughter of Eve as you are." I commented. She was not amused at my comment, it was a good thing that I was not trying to be amusing. "I think you would know as well as I do, just because someone looks human and sounds human doesn't mean they always are."

"She called herself a daughter of Persephone, your majesty." The wolf told her, respectfully, "I found her near the home of the faun."

"Magruim, you may leave us." The Witch commanded. He swiftly left as she made her way down the steps. "You are very impertinent for someone in your situation."

"Where I'm from, we call it moxie." I retorted, "I think you're just riled that you cannot control me as you did Edmund."

"You know of Edmund?" She questioned curiously, her whole manner changing.

"I know Edmund." I corrected, "Quite clever bribing him with sweets."

Zoe had told me this morning what had transpired between her and Edmund and Edmund and the Witch.

"Are you aware of who you are speaking with?" The witch challenged.

"Are you aware that I don't care?" I retorted. If I had blinked, I would have missed the momentary wave of shock wash over her. "You may have others bow down and obey your whim, due to fear, but you're not going to get that from me. I know what you really are and I am not afraid of you. If you haven't noticed, _**your highness**_ , it's stopped snowing."

In a surge of anger, she took out her staff from behind her throne and pointed it at me. Nothing happened.

"Was that supposed to do something?" I asked, starting to think I pushed my bounds a little.

"The Three…" She murmured, before she called of her guards, "Escort," She looked to me, "I'm sorry I believe I missed your name." She told me condescendingly.

"I never gave it." I pointed out.

"May I have it?" She asked. This woman had more extreme mood swings in a matter of minutes than I had ever experienced in my lifetime. With each sentence, she was switching from one mood to the next.

"No." I replied bluntly.

"Take this _daughter of Persephone_ to the cells." She ordered her soldiers, "I believe she might be missing her _friend_."

A couple of dwarves took each of my arms and dragged me down to the Ice Witch's dungeon. The farther down we traveled through the castle, the colder it got.

' _Matches her icy heart.'_ I thought as we reached the dungeon, "Wonder if this will all melt if it gets warmer."

"Silence, insolent girl." One of the dwarves commanded as he pushed me into a cell. I slipped and fell into my cellmate, who caught me before we both fell hard into the solid ground.

"I've got you." Tumnus said quietly, steadying me, so I could sit up right. The other dwarf who had pulled me down to the dungeon slammed the cell door shut and they both left.

"I would have thought they would have used a minotaur to drag me down here." I commented, moving closer to Tumnus.

"Otmin and his army typically stay by her side." Tumnus informed me, "The only reason he or his men would leave her is if they ordered to kill you or if she is going to turn you to stone."

"Is that what her staff does?" I asked him, "I saw the statues in the garden and she got it out when I was with her a few moments ago. She looked shocked when it didn't do anything." I looked at Tumnus, who was looking at me like I had two heads, "She said something, I think she said something like 'The Three', do you know what that is?"

"The Covenant of Three." He nodded, "They were supposed to be a group of witches that would aid the sons of Adam and daughters of Eve, there has been a lot of debate in that addendum of the prophecy. Some believe it's true, others think it's codswallop."

"Do you?"

"I'm not sure." He replied honestly, "There was never enough information about the prophecy in general to really know what to think. It was always more of a hope or idea for a way to save us than a fact, although with you and Lucy coming to Narnia, I'm starting to believe those old stories."

"There's only one problem with the prophecy of The Three." I told him, "I have three sisters, not two."

"There is possibility that not all of your sisters could travel to Narnia." He responded, "We'll have to wait and see how everything turns out. You didn't give yourself any favors confronting her the way you did."

"You could hear all of that?" I asked stunned.

He nodded, "Noise does travel every easily in this castle."

 **Jane's POV**

"We should have played a different game." I muttered to myself as I watched from the sidelines with Lucy. I had opted to watch the others play. I didn't see a reason, I had only agreed to play baseball was because it wouldn't have been fair to have four against two. Now since they were playing cricket, it didn't really matter. Plus, there wasn't much of a game going on, Susan, Edmund, and Peter were squabbling amongst themselves than playing. When Peter finally pitched the ball to Edmund, he hit it so hard that it crashed through one of the stained glass windows. I gasped as I watched it fly through the window.

"Holy cow…" Zoe looked up at the window in surprise.

"We better go find that ball before we're all in trouble." Violet suggested. We all agreed and went to go find the ball.

"Well done, Ed." Peter told Edmund sarcastically when we finally found the broken window and the ball.

"You balled it!" Edmund argued.

"It doesn't matter whose fault it is!" Zoe retorted to the both of them, "Why-"

Zoe stopped talking at the sound of Mrs. McCready's voice as she was making her way through the mansion.

"Mrs. McCready!" Susan and I exclaimed.

"You guys go." Violet told us, "I'll cover for you with McCready."

"Vi-" I started, but she cut me off.

"Go." She repeated.

We ran out the door and through the upper level of the mansion, trying to every door we could to find some place to hide. The one door that was unlocked was the spare room with the wardrobe. We all stopped as we watched Edmund run to the wardrobe. He opened the door to the wardrobe, and ushered us to go into the wardrobe, "C'mon."

"You must be joking." Susan commented deadpanned.

With Mrs. McCready hot on our heels, we didn't have much of a choice other than to hide in the wardrobe. We all rushed inside and Peter shut the door behind us.

"Go back." Susan told us as we backed further into the wardrobe.

"I don't know who much further you're expecting us to go, Susan." I argued, "We're in a wardrobe."

"Ow, Ed, that was my foot." Zoe cried.

"I didn't step on your foot, Zo." Edmund responded.

"Stop pushing." Lucy cried.

"Anyone else feel it's starting get colder?" I asked confused and starting to wish I was wearing something warmer.

"Jane, turn around." Peter told me. I did as he said, only to find a beautiful pine forest covered in snow, illuminated by a bright glowing lamppost. I was too in awe to say anything.

"Impossible." Susan gawked.

"Don't worry, I'm sure it's just your imagination." Lucy smirked at them.

"I suppose saying we're sorry won't quite cover it." Peter responded.

"No." Lucy shook her head, "It wouldn't." She told him, before throwing a snowball at his face, hitting him square in the cheek. "But that might."

Zoe and I laughed at him, until he threw snowballs at the two of us, while Lucy threw one at Susan, which started a snowball fight between the five of us. It all ended though when Susan threw one at Edmund, who was standing on the side.

"Ow." Edmund cried rubbing his arm, "Stop it."

"You little liar." Peter scolded, turning to Edmund.

"You didn't believe her either." Edmund sneer.

"Apologize to Lucy." Peter ordered, "Say you're sorry!" Peter stepped towards him.

"I'm sorry!" Edmund apologized to Lucy out of fear.

"Peter, you can't demand an apology out of someone." Zoe argued in Edmund's defense, not that he had much of one. "He may owe her one, but that's not for you to decide for him to give her one and when to give it to her."

"It's alright." Lucy commented, "Some little children just don't know when to stop pretending." She threw his words back at him, looking pointedly at Edmund. I snorted, that was hilarious. I could see Zoe biting back an amused smile at Lucy's words.

Edmund sighed and then sneered, "Very funny."

"Maybe we should go back." Susan suggested.

"Shouldn't we at least take a look around?" Edmund questioned. I looked at him suspiciously, there was something not right about this picture.

"Ed." Zoe looked at him pointedly, making a silent argument against him, which he seemed to understand.

"Zo." He countered her, as if to say not to push him or at least not say anything.

' _That's odd.'_ I thought, but I wasn't going to question it now. Zoe would hear about it later.

"I think Lucy should decide." Peter threw out his two cents on the matter at hand.

Lucy gasped in excitement, "I'd like you all to meet Mr. Tumnus."

"Well, then Mr. Tumnus it is." Peter agreed, before going back into the wardrobe.

"But we can't go hiking in the snow dressed like this." Susan argued.

"Good point." Zoe nodded, "Good thing we're next to a wardrobe full of coats."

"If you think about logically, we're not even taking them out of the wardrobe." Peter added, handing each of us a coat.

"But that's a girls coat." Edmund pointed out, narrowing his eyes at Peter as he held out the coat to him.

"I know." He responded, not really caring much for Edmund's comment or attitude. We all put on our coats and made our way to Mr. Tumnus' home. The beauty of this place had made me wish that I had not left my journal in my room, I could write for hours just on these woods alone.

"We'll have tea and he could tell you all about-" Lucy stopped when she saw the state of the entrance to Mr. Tumnus' house. The door had been broken in. She ran inside the entrance of his home that was carved into the rock.

"Lucy!" Peter called as he ran after her. The rest of us followed them into the home. Susan and I were right after them, while Zoe and Edmund brought up the rear. Mr. Tumnus' house had been torn apart, it was a complete wreck.

"Who would do something like this?" Lucy asked sadly confused.

"Faun, Tumnus, is hereby charged with high treason against her Imperial Majesty, Jadis, for comforting her enemies and fraternizing with humans." Peter read aloud, "Signed, Maugrim, Captain of the Secret Police. Long live the Queen."

"Alright." Susan took the note from Peter, "Now we really should go back."

"But what about Mr. Tumnus?" Lucy argued.

"If he was arrested for being with a human, I don't think there's much we can do." Susan responded gently.

"You don't understand, do you?" Lucy asked them, "Alice and I, we're the humans. She must have found out he helped us."

"Um, Jane?" Zoe spoke up. I looked over to her, raising an eyebrow. "Where's Alice?"

That was a good question. We hadn't seen Alice all day, we had no clue where she had gone off to. I kind of figured she had stayed in her room, but she hadn't been there when we had passed it.

"Alice has been visiting Mr. Tumnus." Lucy told us, before a realization hit her, "She could have been here when they took him."

"Maybe we could call the police." Peter suggested.

"These are the police." Susan argued, waving the note.

"We'll get Alice back." Peter promised Zoe and I.

"Peter, you can't be-" Susan started.

"Alice is their sister and our friend." Peter stopped her, "We're bringing her back home." He turned to Lucy, "Don't worry, Lu, we'll think of something to help Mr. Tumnus." Peter told Lucy, bending down to meet her level.

"Why?" Edmund asked. All of us looked at him like he had lost his mind, "I mean he's a criminal."

Before anyone could respond to his objection to Mr. Tumnus' rescue, we heard something make a 'psst' sound. Since it obviously wasn't one of us, we looked outside, only to find a bird.

"Did that bird just 'psst' us?" Susan asked confused.

"Look who finally decided to join us in Wonderland." Zoe retorted sarcastically.

"Zoe." I scolded, who merely gave me a 'what' look. I sighed as we followed everyone else out. We were greeted by a beaver, which was odd, but made more sense than bird trying to get our attention.

"It's a beaver." Lucy pointed out confused.

Peter tried to get his attention like he would a cat or dog, but the beaver stood on it's hind legs and told him, "I ain't gonna smell it, if that's what you what."

"Oh, right. Sorry." Peter backed off.

"Lucy Pevensie?" The Beaver asked.

"Yes?" Lucy replied coming towards him, he handed her a handkerchief, "That's the hanky I gave to Mr. Tum-"

"Tumnus." The Beaver nodded, "He got it to me, just before they took him. He had told me to come meet Alice Porter here to warn her, but I was too late. I came just as they were taking her away."

"Are they alright?" Lucy asked him.

"What do you mean they took her away?" I asked the Beaver, "Where did they take Alice?"

"Further in." The Beaver told us, scurrying ahead. I followed after him, not really caring to hear what Susan's argument was going to be against us going. Zoe was right behind me. It wasn't too long before the Pevensie siblings decided to join us as well.

"Beaver, is that you?" His wife called to him when we got to his home, "I've been worried sick. If I find you've been out with Badger again-" She stopped when she saw us, "Oh, those aren't badgers." She smiled, and walked towards us, "Oh I never thought I'd see this day." She looked at her husband, "Look at my fur, you couldn't have given me ten minutes warning?"

"I would have given you a week if I thought it would have helped." Beaver replied, good-humouredly.

"Oh, come inside and we'll see if we can get you some food." She told us, and then shot her husband a look, "And some civilized company."

We followed her inside. She went into the kitchen and Mr. Beaver sat with us.

"Isn't there anything we can do to help Mr. Tumnus and Alice?" Peter asked Mr. Beaver concerned.

"They've taken them to the witch's house." Mr. Beaver told us, "And you know what I say about that place, there's few who go there who ever come out again."

Zoe and I looked to each other. I could tell by the look on her face she was scared. We needed Alice, she was our rock. She was the one we went to when our lives got hard. She couldn't just not come back. That wasn't an option.

"Jane…" Zoe couldn't come up with the words.

"We'll bring her back." I promised. I wasn't even going to start with how that was even going to be possible, but I knew we at least had to try.

"Fish and chips?" Mrs. Beaver offered us, "There is hope, dears." She looked to Lucy and reiterated her sentence, "There is hope."

"Oh yeah, there's a right bit more than hope." Mr. Beaver smiled, before telling us seriously, "Aslan is on the move."

"Who's Aslan?" Edmund questioned confused.

"Who's Alsan?" Mr. Beaver laughed, thinking he was joking. "You cheeky little blighter." He continued to laugh, until Mrs. Beaver started hitting his arm. "What?" He asked her, she nodded to us, who had similar expressions of confusion donning our faces. "You don't know, do ya?"

"Well, we haven't exactly been here very long." Peter pointed out.

"Well, he's only the king of the whole wood." Mr. Beaver replied simplistically, "The top geezer, the real king of Narnia."

"He's been away for a long while." Mrs. Beaver added.

"But he's just got back and he's waiting for you at the stone table!" Mr. Beaver exclaimed.

"He's waiting for us?" Lucy asked.

"Why?" I questioned him.

"You're blooming joking!" Mr. Beaver exclaimed disbelievingly, "They don't even know about the prophecy." He looked to his wife in exasperation.

"Well then." She gestured to all of us as if to hint to possibly explain it to us.

"Look, Aslan's return, Tumnus' arrest, the secret police," Mr. Beaver listed off, "It's all happening because of you."

"You're blaming us?" Susan questioned.

"No." Mrs. Beaver replied, waving her hands in protest, "Not blaming, thanking you."

"There's a prophecy." Mr. Beaver started to explain, "When Adam's flesh and Adam's bone sits at Cair Paravel in throne, the evil time will be over and done."

"You know that doesn't really rhyme." Susan pointed out.

"No, I know it don't." Mr. Beaver waved her off, "But you're kind of missing the point."

Mrs. Beaver rested her hand on her husband's shoulder, "It has long been foretold that two sons of Adam and two daughters of Eve will defeat the white witch and restore peace to Narnia."

"And you think we're the ones?" Peter asked them referencing to him and his siblings.

"You better be cause Aslan's already filling up your army." Mr. Beaver stood.

"Our army?" Lucy replied, before turning to Peter.

"Mum sent us away, so that we wouldn't get caught up in a war." Susan told Peter.

"I think you've made a mistake." Peter told Mr. Beaver, "We're not heroes."

"We're from Finchley." Susan added, standing, "Thank you for your hospitality, but we really have to go."

"You can't just leave." Mr. Beaver replied.

"Sit down, Susan." I sighed, having enough of her logic for one day. It was easy to see that logic in our world can't be transferred to this world, "At least hear what they have to say. We may not be heroes, but we could at least try."

"They're right." Lucy said after Peter started to stand as well, "We have to help Alice and Mr. Tumnus."

"It's out of our hands." Peter argued.

"It's not out of ours." I countered, before turning to Mr. Beaver, "I will say, however, I have no clue what my sisters and I have to do with this prophecy at all. I get how the Pevensies could fit into the prophecy, they're pretty perfect for it from a story standpoint. You know, the unlikely hero story, but my sisters and I, we don't fit at all."

"That's because you are a part of the Covenant of Three." Mr. Beaver explained, "Three good witches that will help care for Narnia in its time of need and maintain peace throughout the land."

"We can't be witches." I told him honestly, "We have no magic."

"Who says you need it?" Mrs. Beaver asked.

"Every book ever written." I replied stoically.

"Can't believe everything you read, can you know dearie?" She responded.

"I'm sorry, but we have to be going." Peter told them, "Ed." He turned around to fetch Edmund, but he was nowhere to be found, "I'm gonna kill him."

"You may not have to." Mr. Beaver replied, "Has Edmund ever been to Narnia before?"

"Oh no…" Zoe murmured. I looked at her, I could tell she knew exactly where he was going. She started to stand, but I pulled her back down. She looked at me worriedly, "I can't let him go to her alone, he'll get hurt."

"If Alice is there, she will look after him." I assured her, "Nothing will happen to him as long as he is with her."

"How do you know?" She asked quietly.

"Because it's Alice." I told her, gently pulling close to me.

"But-" Zoe started again, but this time before I could say anything, Peter spoke up.

"Zoe, do you know where Edmund is?" He asked her.

She nodded, "When he visited here the first time, he met the Queen or the witch, or whatever she is, and she convinced him to come back to see her."

"How long have you known?" Lucy asked sounding slightly hurt that Zoe hadn't told her that she had known.

"Since he came back the first time." Zoe replied honestly, "But I didn't know what he said to you, that he lied until after he told me what happened when he went. I thought that was wrong of him to do that, to lie about that."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Peter asked.

"You think I wanted to be branded as crazy?" Zoe asked, "You didn't believe Lucy or Alice, who never lie, why would you believe me about Edmund's story, when Ed already told you it didn't happen."

"We have to go after him." Peter said before leaving the Beaver's lodge.

"Peter!" I called, running after him. When I finally caught up to him, I asked, "Do you think this is wise?"

"He's my brother." He replied, "I have to go after him.

"And Alice is my sister." I argued, "And while I want to go after her, I know it's not the best way to save her."

"I have to at least try to stop him before he gets to her." He responded as the others started to catch up with us. We rushed to try to catch up with Edmund, but it was all for not. By the time we reached the Witch's castle, he was already heading inside.

"Edmund!" Lucy called after him.

"Ed!" Zoe called after him as well.

"Shh…" Mr. Beaver tried to quiet them down, "They'll hear ya."

Peter tried to run after Edmund, but Mr. Beaver pulled at his hand to try to stop him, "Let go of me!"

"You're playing into her hands." Mr. Beaver told him.

"We can't just let him go!" Susan argued.

"He's our brother!" Lucy argued.

"Can't you see what's happening here?" I asked them imploringly, "She wants you to go after him!"

"He's the bait!" Mr. Beaver told them, "She wants all seven of ya."

"Why?" Peter asked him.

"To stop the prophecy from coming true." Mr. Beaver explained, "To kill ya!"

We watched Edmund go inside the castle and the door close behind him.

"This is all your fault!" Susan blamed Peter for the situation.

"My fault?!" Peter asked incredulously.

"None of this would have happened if you had just listened to me!" Susan yelled at him.

"Oh, so you knew this would happen?" Peter asked annoyed.

"I didn't know what would happen." Susan replied, "Which is why we should have left when we still could!"

"You shouldn't be blaming Peter; why is he at fault?" I commented, "You don't know everything, Susan, and if you didn't know what was going to happen, you have no right to be so opinionated on who is at fault and what we should do." I told her, turning to look directly at her, before adding, "And Susan, you're not the only one with a sibling that is stuck in there! Unless you've forgotten, Alice is trapped in there as well. If you four had left, Zoe and I would still be here trying to figure out a way to get her back with or without your help because that's what siblings do. That's what any good person would person would do whether they're from kids Finchley or if they're heroes from a storybook, it doesn't matter!"

"This isn't going to help Edmund or Alice." Lucy told us calmly.

"She's right." Mr. Beaver agreed with her, "Only Aslan can help your siblings now."

"Then take us to him." Peter told him.

 **Alice's POV**

A wolf's howl interrupted our conversation.

"That doesn't sound good." I commented.

"It's probably another raid." Tumnus replied, leaning back against the solid wall of ice, "They go after anyone who says anything against her and bring them in for questioning. If they don't comply or if they provide a dissatisfying answer, she turns them to stone."

"Hence the statues."

"Right." He nodded.

"You don't think they are going to-"

"It's only a matter of time, my dear Alice."

"Tumnus-" I started, but he pulled me close to him. I rested my head on his shoulder. "I'm sorry."

 **Zoe's POV**

"Um, guys…" I spoke up trying to get their attention. They kept talking, ignoring anything I had to say. "Guys!" I yelled at them. They all looked down at me. "We've got company." I told them seriously, pointing at the wolves sprinting towards us.

"Run." Mr. Beaver ordered. We all ran back to the Beaver's lodge with the wolves chasing after us. "Hurry, they're after us!" He told Mrs. Beaver as he crashed through the door.

"Oh, right then." She responded going into the kitchen.

"What's are you doing?!" Peter asked her disbelievingly.

"Believe me, you'll thank me for it later." She waved off his concern, "Beaver, gets pretty cranky when he's hungry."

"I'm cranky now!" Mr. Beaver exclaimed.

"You think we'll need jam?" Susan asked as she started to help Mrs. Beaver pack.

"Only if the witch serves toast." Peter retorted sarcastically.

"Which if we hurry, we won't have to find out." I commented imploringly as the wolves started to dig their way into the lodge.

"I think it's time to go." Jane stated after a couple of looser sticks started to fall from the ceiling.

"She's right." Mrs. Beaver nodded. We rushed through the lodge and down a hole into a tunnel.

"You told me it lead to your mum's!" I could hear Mrs. Beaver reply to something Mr. Beaver was telling Peter.

"You might wanna be a bit more careful." I told Lucy, helping her up after she tripped over a rock.

"Thanks." She replied, before a loud crash rang through the tunnel, "They're in the tunnels."

That quickly gave us a new reason to quicken our pace as we made our way through the tunnels.

"You should have brought a map!" Mrs. Beaver yelled at him frustrated when we hit a dead end.

"There wasn't room next to the jam!" Mr. Beaver retorted.

"And there isn't time to bring this up now!" Jane yelled at both of them, "There's a light coming down from up there. Go up." She pulled herself up and out of the tunnel. Mr. Beaver scurried up after her. Peter followed quickly behind, and then they helped the rest of us up and out of the tunnel. Mr. Beaver and Peter quickly blocked off the exit of the tunnel with a barrel. We turned away and made our way from the exit to find statues of terrified animals.

"Oh Beaver, I'm so sorry." Mrs. Beaver placed a hand on his shoulder as he gawked at the statue of the badger.

"He was my best mate." Mr. Beaver said in anguish.

"What happened here?" Peter asked.

"This is what happens to those who cross the Witch." A handsome red fox trotted down towards us.

"You take one step traitor and I'll chew you to splinters." Mr. Beaver advanced towards him. Mrs. Beaver tried to pull him back.

"Relax." The fox hopped down from the ledge, "I'm one of the good guys."

"Yeah, well you look like an awful lot like one of the bad ones." Mr. Beaver retorted.

"He's not…" I said softly to myself, getting this odd knowing sensation wave over me.

"An unfortunate family resemblance." The fox stated, "We can argue breeding later; right now, we've got to move."

"What did you have in mind?" Peter asked the fox as we heard the wolves gaining ground towards us.

"Hide." He told us, "And if this takes longer than I think it will, go on ahead. I'll distract them gain you some time." He looked up at the tree above us. We did as he said and hid, watching the scene that was about to play out from a tree. The fox brushed away our footprints in the snow. "Good evening, gents." The fox greeted the wolves as they busted out of the tunnel, "Lost something, have we?"

"Don't patronize me." The wolf snarled, "I know where your allegiance lies. We're for some humans."

The fox laughed nervously, "Humans? Here in Narnia?" He laughed again, "That's a valuable bit of information, don't you think?"

One of the wolves growled and bit him in the side, picking him up, the fox cried out in pain. The wolf who was previously speaking, snarled, now that they were face to face, "Your reward is your life. It's not much." The wolf laughed at him, "But still, where are the fugitives?"

The fox looked down sadly. I could feel everyone else starting to worry, I wasn't worried about the fox. He wasn't going to betray us, I was worried and confused about how and why I knew and felt exactly how the others did. "North." The fox told them, "They went north."

"Smell them out." The lead wolf told his pack. The wolf holding the fox threw him off to the side. Something inside of me compelled me to go down to the fox, but I knew it wouldn't be a good idea with the wolves still down there. Once they ran off ahead, I rushed down to the fox and gently helped him up to his feet.

"Are you going to be alright?" I asked him. He nodded, "That was incredibly brave."

"You're not one of the daughters of Eve." He told me, "You're of the Covenant."

"So I've been told." I smiled, stroking behind his ear, "You don't mind if I?"

"No, milady."

"We are friends, Mr. Fox and I owe you my life, please call me Zoe." I told him.

"Thank you, mi-" He replied, but then started over, "Thank you, Zoe."

"Thank you, Mr. Fox." I told him.

"Ayden." He confided gently as the others came towards us.

"Let's have a look at you." Mrs. Beaver told Ayden as she came over to his injured side, so she can patch him up. "Why don't a few of you start a fire?" She suggested, "We'll rest here for now." She told us, before turning to Ayden, so she could help him.

"They were helping Tumnus." Ayden explained about the statues, "The witch got to them before I could." He sighed, placing his head on the ground sadly. A tug at something stuck in his fur, got him to spring his head right back up again. "Ow." Ayden cried out as Mrs. Beaver tended to his wounds after Peter and Jane got the fire going.

"Are you alright?" Lucy asked him.

"I wish I could say their bark was worse than their bite." He joked, before crying out again at Mrs. Beaver's moves to patch him up. "Ow!"

"Oh, stop squirming." She reprimanded him, "You're worse than Beaver on bath day."

"Worst day of the year." Mr. Beaver told us.

"Thank you for your kindness." Ayden stood, "But I'm afraid that's all the cure I have time for."

"You're leaving?" Lucy asked him.

"It has been a pleasure my Queen and an honor." He bowed to her, "But time is short, and Aslan, himself, has asked me to gather more troops."

Mr. and Mrs. Beaver gasped in surprise and excitement.

"You've seen Aslan?" Mr. Beaver questioned.

"What's he like?" Mrs. Beaver asked.

"Like everything we've ever heard." Ayden replied, "You'll be glad to have him by your side in the battle against the witch."

"But we're not planning on fighting any witch." Susan told him.

"You might not be." I corrected, "I'll do whatever I have to get Alice and Ed back."

"Truly, King Peter, the prophecy." Ayden implored him.

"We can't go to war without ya." Mr. Beaver agreed.

Peter threw a stick into the fire, "We just want our brother back."

"I think the only ones you have at the moment are two members of the Covenant fighting with you." I told them, before looking to Jane, who nodded.

"We'll help." She agreed.

"Hopefully that will change." He replied, "Thank you for the aid in my bite, but it's time I bid my leave." He left.

Once everyone was distracted in conversation, I slipped away to catch up with Ayden. Something in me was guiding me, telling me that at this part in the journey, he was the one I was supposed to be with.

"Ayden!" I called once I caught up to him. He stopped, looking back at me confused, he was scared for my safety and slightly lost to why I was following him.

"What are you doing here?"

"Something told me I needed to be with you." I answered simply.

He nodded in understanding, "Your abilities are starting to show through."

"So, I actually have abilities?"

"Every witch has at least one ability." He responded, "I'll tell you about them as we make our way to Aslan."

"You'll let me come with you?" I asked excitedly.

"Well, you did come all this way." He smirked. We continued to make our way through the forest side by side.


	6. Chapter 6: Not While I'm Around

**AN: Hello everyone, thank you for reading this story. Here is the next chapter. I promise the Covenant of Three will be explained in time. These girls do have abilities, but the are not exactly magical. It'll make sense in time. Also Ayden will come back after this chapter, he's going to have a pretty good sized part as the story continues.**

 **If you guys are curious about what the girls look like, who I envision for the girls is Brittany Snow as Alice,** **Saoirse Ronan as Jane, Sophie Turner as Violet, and AnnaSophia Robb as Zoe. Of course, they are all supposed to look the ages of the characters and not the ages they are now, but that's who I envisioned them to look like.**

 **I hope you all enjoy the chapter.**

 **Happy reading.**

 **Chapter Six: Not While I'm Around**

 ** _"_** ** _All the adversity I've had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me... You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you." ― Walt Disney Company_**

 **Alice's POV**

The sound of coughing stirred me from my sleep, I had been asleep since the wolves had left. Tumnus provided a sense of security just being with me in the cell; he also had promised if anything were to happen, if he were taken away, he would wake me as soon as her or the guards came.

"If you aren't going to eat that…" Tumnus suggested to the person they had brought into the cell next to us. I heard clanging as the person came over to the bars. "Alice…" He gently woke me, "I have to move."

I pushed myself off of him, rubbing my head.

"I would get up, but my legs." He told the other prisoner. We had been chained and shackled by one of the guards shortly before the wolves left the castle grounds. Her majesty was dissatisfied that we did not have the pleasure to be chained up when we were brought to our cells. "Do you want something to eat, my dear?" Tumnus asked me.

"The witch actually has food?" I responded.

"More like frozen bread." The other prisoner, whom I instantly recognized upon hearing his voice.

"Ed!" I exclaimed, moving next to the bars beside Tumnus.

"Alice!" He exclaimed in recognition, "Jane and Zoe were worried about you when they found out you were here. They're trying to find you."

"They're here?" I asked him in shock.

He nodded, "We were hiding from McCready and all ended up here. We were going to visit-" He stopped and a wave of realization washed over his face, he looked to Tumnus, "Mr. Tumnus…"

"What's left of him." Tumnus looked down; he broke the bread in half and gave half of it to me, "You have to eat, Alice."

"I know." I nodded. It was the first time we had gotten food in the past couple of days. My punishment was for us to starve because she was not fond of what I told her.

"You're Lucy Pevensie's brother." Tumnus said, connecting the dots of who Edmund was and how we knew each other.

"I'm Edmund." Edmund introduced himself, guilt briefly washing over his face.

"You have the same nose." Tumnus pointed out, "Is your sister alright?"

Edmund looked to him, and then looked away. He was guilty, I had no clue of what, but he was guilty of something.

"Is she safe?" Tumnus asked Edmund again.

"I don't know." Edmund hesitantly replied.

We backed away from Edmund as we heard doors opening and unlocking, from the looks of it her royal highness had decided to pay us a little visit. Edmund backed away from the bars as well.

"My police tore that dam apart." The Witch told Edmund.

"Lodge, a beaver's home is actually technically called a Lodge." I muttered.

"She'll hear you." Tumnus whispered. I bit my lip to prevent myself from talking.

"You're little family is nowhere to be found." The Witch stated, before grabbing him by the shirt to meet her eyes, "Where did they go?"

"I don't know." Edmund cried.

"Then you are no further use to me." She threw him down hard on to the icy floor. She pulled up her staff with the intent to turn him to stone until he, fearing for his life, spoke up.

"Wait!" He cried, "The Beavers said something about Aslan."

Tumnus and I shared a glance with each other and then looked at Edmund again, waiting to see what his fate would be.

The Witch's hand went back down to her side and she fearfully asked, "Aslan? Where?"

"I…" Edmund faltered. I looked to Tumnus, but he was already painfully aware he had to say something.

"He is a stranger here, your majesty." Tumnus said, putting his own life on the line, "He can't be expected to know anything."

The dwarf hit Tumnus in the head with his pole.

"Tumnus!" I exclaimed, rushing to his side. I pulled him to me as he cried out in pain. "I'll be right with you in just one second." I gently stroked the side of his head that wasn't bludgeoned. I swiftly and quietly made my way over to the dwarf, while the witch was focused on getting an answer out of Edmund. I pulled on the pole the dwarf was holding, while he was distracted by his queen, causing him to slip and fall flat on his face hard enough that he most likely broke his nose. I quickly and quietly scooted my way back to Tumnus before anyone noticed I moved from his side. I pulled him to me and held him close. "Are you alright?"

"My head…" He replied softly.

"I know." I nodded, and then whispered to him, "Don't worry, he's probably in as much pain as you are now."

"Where is Aslan?" The Witch demanded from Edmund again. Tumnus looked up at Edmund to see what he would say.

"I don't know." Edmund answered, "I left before they said anything."

Tumnus looked back down with a mixture of sadness and relief.

"I wanted to see you!" Edmund implored.

"Guard!" She called after a moment, what looked to be an ogre trotted down the steps into the dungeon.

"Yes, your majesty?" He looked to her, awaiting her orders.

"Release the faun." She commanded. Tumnus looked to me frightened, he was to be turned to stone. His time had finally come.

"No!" I exclaimed, trying to get up as the ogre took Tumnus out his chains and from the cell. The ogre proceed to throw him in front of the Witch.

"Do you know why you're here, faun?" She asked him.

"Because I believe in a free Narnia." He answered with as much courage he could muster at the moment.

"You're here because he" She looked and pointed to Edmund with her staff, and then looked back to Tumnus, so that she could revel in his reaction when she finished her sentence, "turned you in for sweets."

Tumnus looked to Edmund shocked.

"You can't expect us to believe that, do you?" I commented darkly to her from where I was sitting. "He's ten, it wouldn't have been his idea to betray someone he hadn't met. How did you get him to tell you, you bloody two faced witch?" I asked incredulously, finally mustering up the ability to stand as she commanded the ogre to take Tumnus upstairs. My question would fall upon deaf ears however.

"Ready my sleigh." She told the dwarf, who was still wiping the blood from his nose, "Edmund misses his family."

"This isn't going to end well for you!" I called after her as she left, before bending down to Edmund side. "Are you alright?"

"Don't you hate me for what I did?" He asked sadly and guilty, looking down at the floor.

"Edmund, look at me." I implored. He looked up at me, his eyes were watery. "You're only a kid, you didn't know what she was and she showed you kindness in a world you had no knowledge of. She took advantage of you. This isn't completely your fault, you made a mistake" I told him, holding out my hand to him. He hesitantly took it. I pulled him to me, hugging him, so he wouldn't feel as alone as he looked, "Did you learn something from anything of this?" I could feel his teary nodded through my shirt. "Then everything is going to be okay, Edmund."

"I'm scared, Alice." He confided.

"I am too." I told him honestly, stroking his jet black hair as he started to let down his defenses and cry, "Nothing's going happen to you, Edmund. No one is going to hurt you; it'll be alright." I kept running my hand gently through his hair, "Nothing's gonna harm you, not while I'm around."

"I'm so sorry…"

"I know." I told him.

"I'm sorry." He apologized again.

"Everything's going to be okay, Ed." I told him, gently kissing his head, "I'm not going to let anything happen to you. Neither are your siblings, they're going to come for you."

He looked up at me, "What about you?"

I gently wiped away the tears on his stained cheeks, "Don't worry about me, let's focus on getting you back safe."

 **Zoe's POV**

"Ayden, something's not right." I told him.

"Then we must quicken our pace." He replied, looking around, "Trust your instincts, Zoe. They will always keep you safe."

"How will I know what they're trying to tell me?" I asked, not really knowing what to I was supposed to do about these heighted instincts that Ayden had been explaining that one of the witches of the Covenant, whom he believed to be me, was supposed to have. This witch was supposed to know which way situations where to go and the true colors of others. The ability was one that kept others safe from harm and those who intended to.

"You will know, Zoe." He replied stoically, before turning, "We have to make a detour here, there are a few I must speak with."

"Alright." I nodded and followed him down the path.

 **Jane's POV**

"How are you not worried about Zoe?" Susan asked disbelievingly. In all honesty, I had watched her leave and go after the fox. I had a feeling she would be alright and with him was where she was supposed to go, so I let her.

"Because I let her go with the fox." I replied simply, "If I had really wanted to stop her when she left, I could have."

"Why would you let her go with him?" She asked incredulously.

"Because that's where she needed to be." I answered her, before moving ahead, so I wouldn't have to answer anymore of her questions. The Beavers stopped mid stone bridge.

"Now Aslan's camp is near the stone table." Mr. Beaver told us, and then pointed, "Just across the frozen river."

"River?" Peter asked.

"Oh, the river's been frozen solid for a hundred years." Mrs. Beaver replied unconcerned.

"It's so far." Peter commented.

"It's the world, dear." Mrs. Beaver told him, "Did you expect it to be small?"

"Smaller." Susan retorted annoyed, looking at Peter, before moving forward.

"No world is going to be small, Susan." I told her, "Not this one, not ours." I looked back at the lake, and commented after everyone had moved on, "I hope all of us know how to swim."

"Why do ya say that?" Mr. Beaver asked.

"Just a feeling." I replied, "When was the last time Narnia has seen a human or Aslan?"

"Around a hundred years."Mr. Beaver replied, before understanding where I was going with my idea, "Oh no."

I looked down at him, "I think we might want to hurry everyone along a bit."

"You don't want to tell them?"

I shook my head, "No."

"The Guide…" He smiled softly to himself in realization.

"What do you mean?" I asked him confused.

"As you know, there are three witches in the Covenant: The Healer of the Broken, the Guide to the Lost, and the Defender of the Defenseless." He explained, "Now the Guide, she is helps those who are lost physically or emotionally."

"So people are sheep and I'm their shepherd…" I commented in more layman's terms, "That'll be interesting." I nodded, understanding the concept. He didn't quite understand my analogy. We didn't have time for me to explain it either, "We'd better go, we need to hurry them across that river before it thaws."

We left to catch up with the others.

 **Alice's POV**

The dwarf came back a few hours later to fetch Edmund.

"Alice…" He looked up at me worried.

"It's gonna be okay." I told him.

"Time to go." The dwarf narrowed his eyes at Edmund, "Get up." He ordered, we both stood. I knew his command wasn't for me, I didn't care. The dwarf glared at me, "Not you. Her majesty's orders were only for the son of Adam. You, Witch, are to stay in your cell until you are to be properly executed."

"How's she going to do that?" I asked, raising an eyebrow, "Her magic has no effect on me."

"She's decided on a more permanent way of disposing of you." He snarled, "Until then you will stay here."

"You know I could probably break more than just your nose." I threatened. That sentence alone earned me a dark glare, with in a mere moment Edmund was taken out of his chains and from me, and before I knew what was happening, I felt a sharp pain in my side. I could feel cool liquid slowly seeping from my stomach as my world started to fade to black.

 **Jane's POV**

"C'mon, humans, while we're still young." Mr. Beaver told Peter, Susan, and Lucy. I was the only one who had been able to keep the pace with the Beavers by this point. Peter picked up Lucy, so that he and Susan could catch up. I looked back at them to see if they were making any progress, something in the distance caught my eye."

"We might want to start running." I told the Beavers, knowing they were the only ones who could hear me, the others were too far away.

"Why, dear?" Mrs. Beaver asked, but her question was answered by the sound of bells.

"Hurry up!" Mr. Beaver told Peter, Susan, and Lucy, "C'mon."

"He is getting kind of bossy." Lucy commented to her siblings.

"No, it's her!" Mrs. Beaver pointed at the sleigh rushing towards us. Peter set Lucy down and we started to run. I was surprised the most by Susan, she had sprinted hard enough to that she had caught up with the Beavers and I.

"Hide!" Mr. Beaver ordered as we slid down into a cave, the sleigh stopped above us. The shadow that appeared as the person got out of the sleigh was one of a man. I started to move out from the cave, but Peter grabbed my arm.

"What are you doing?" He asked in hushed tone.

"Seeing who it is." I replied logically, I looked down at his hand, "Please let go."

"Sorry." He let go of my arm and I climbed out of the cave. The person standing before me left me stunned.

 _'_ _He's not supposed to be real…'_ I thought staring at the man before me. I could hear a conversation between Lucy, Peter, and the Beavers. Mr. Beaver scurried out of the cave to see if everything was alright. I looked down at him to see his reaction, he had the same dumbfounded look I did. "We might-" I started, but he spoke up.

"I'll tell 'em." He smiled, before going back to tell the others. "C'mere! C'mere! I hope you've all been good, there's someone here to see ya!" He ran back over to my side. Peter, Susan, and Lucy came out of the cave to greet Santa Claus.

"Merry Christmas, sir." Lucy greeted, approaching him.

"It certainly is, Lucy." He nodded, "Since you have arrived."

Susan started to make an argument to Peter, but before could put any point to it, Peter spoke up, "We thought you were the Witch." Peter told Santa as he came up beside Lucy.

"Yes." Santa looked down, "But in my defense, I've been driving one of these longer than the Witch."

"I thought there was no Christmas in Narnia." Susan commented disbelievingly.

"No, not for a long time." Santa agreed, "The hope that your majesties have brought is finally starting to weaken the Witch's power." He told us, and then gave us a small smile, "Still, guess you could do with these." He turned and grabbed his bag out of his sleigh.

"Presents!" Lucy exclaimed rushing over to the bag that he had set down.

Santa pulled out a vile in a small read satchel, "The juice of the fire flower, one drop will cure any injury." He handed the healing potion to her, before pulling a sheathed dagger out of his bag, "And though I hope you never have to use it…" He handed her the dagger.

"Thank you, sir." Lucy told him, looking down at the dagger, "But I think I can be brave enough."

"I'm sure you could." Santa agreed softly, "Battles are ugly affairs." He said to her, and then Lucy backed away from the bag with her presents and Santa pulled out a bow and a quiver of arrows. "Susan," He motioned for her to come forward, "Trust in this bow and it will not easily miss." He handed her the bow and quiver of arrows.

"What happened to battles are ugly affairs?" She asked him, not being able to help herself.

Santa chuckled and then pulled out her other gift, "Though you don't have a problem making yourself heard, blow on this, and wherever you are, help will come."

"Thanks." She said softly.

Santa turned back to his bag and pulled out a sword and shield. "Peter, the time to use these may be near at hand." He told Peter, handing them to him.

Peter unsheathed the sword to look at it, "Thank you, sir."

"Jane." Santa motioned me forward, pulling a small object out of his coat pocket. I stepped forward, not really expecting a present, but grateful to be included. He placed the small gift in my hands, the casing was a dark brown leather with a worn braided strap attached to it. I opened the case to reveal a beautiful compass, "This compass will always lead you to where you need to be."

"It doesn't point North…" I noticed, it wasn't really a comment to him, but more to myself.

"Sometimes the direction you need to be going isn't always straight ahead of you." He told me cryptically, before pulling one more gift out of his bag, it was a tiny box. "Open this when you are with your sisters again, each of you will know which one is yours." He instructed. I nodded tucking the box into my pocket.

"Thank you, Santa." I told him gratefully, before backing up to stand among the Pevensies and the Beavers.

"These are tools, not toys." Santa told us, "Bare them well and wisely." He added, before changing the subject, "Now, I must be off. Winter is almost over and things do not pile up when you've been gone for a hundred years." He picked up his bag and put it back in his sleigh, "Long Live Aslan!" He exclaimed, and then climbed into his sleigh, "And Merry Christmas!" He drove away.

"Told you he was real." Lucy pointedly said to Susan.

"He said winter was almost over." Peter remarked, "You know what that means: no more ice."

"We have to go now before the river's completely thawed." I told them, "As nice as this was and as kind as Santa is, this has eaten up way too much time." I opened my compass and watched it spin. "We have to go that way." I pointed to my right when the needle stopped.

"But the river's that way." Mr. Beaver objected confused, gesturing in a more northern direction.

"Maybe this way is quicker." I replied unsure.

"Don't you know?" Susan questioned.

"How the hell am I supposed to know?" I retorted, "It's not like I have this and magically know what to do with it. The compass says that we should go that way," I pointed in the direction I had pointed to previously, "So I vote we go that way."

Susan looked to Peter to get his opinion, hoping he would side with her. Peter looked from her, to me, to the direction of the river, and then back to Susan, before saying, "I think we should follow the compass."

I looked at him stunned, I didn't think he would side with me. Neither did Susan by the look at her angrily shocked expression.

"You must be joking." Susan responded.

"You heard what Father Christmas said, the compass will lead us to where we need to go." Peter defended, "We should follow it."

 **Zoe's POV**

"Ayden, may I ask you something?"

"You don't have to ask to ask me a question." He responded, "You should never let anyone make you feel uneasy, unsure, or fearful of asking a question."

"We've been going to different Narnians all day and there are many who will help and some who just want to stay out of the war until whichever side has won. The Witch from what I've gathered has minotaurs, ogres, wolves, bears, and many other huge animals that could easily win in a battle. We have an army of much smaller, more docile creatures, or at least from what I've seen." I told him, so I could set up my question, "How do we stand a chance against the Witch?"

"Because we have something stronger than anything the witch's supporters could ever have or be given, we have hope." Ayden answered, "We have hope for something better for our lives, our future, than the fear, discourse, and prejudice we have experienced for the past century."

"You're instilling your future in a bunch of kids." I pressed, "We're still trying to figure out who we are and our lives, how are we supposed to defeat this Witch and take care of a country that we know nothing of?"

"Well, the kings and queens would most likely have lessons on the country and duties as the rulers of the realm." He responded, "You and your sisters will probably have to go through some sort of training for your abilities in different parts of the country."

"On our own?"

"I would assume so."

"Oh…" I replied, unsure of how I felt about that, I had never traveled or lived anywhere by myself. I changed the subject, "So, where are we headed now?"

"To speak with a few horses."

 **Jane's POV**

When we reached the river, it was almost completely thawed. We all looked down at the river, we were really lucky that we had got to it before the waterfall had started to thaw.

"We need to cross now!" Peter exclaimed.

"Don't beavers make dams?" Lucy asked the Beavers.

"I'm not that fast, dear." Mr. Beaver answered.

"C'mon." Peter said, pulling Lucy ahead.

"Wait!" Susan exclaimed, "Will you just think about this for a minute?"

"We don't have a minute." Peter argued.

"Susan, let's not do this again." I told her, "We're lucky we made it here while the falls were still frozen."

"I'm just trying to be realistic." She replied, backing off.

"No, you're trying to be smart as usual." Peter corrected. She looked back at him shocked, but she had finally stopped arguing. He and Lucy walked on ahead and I followed after them, the sound of the wolves getting closer to us prompted Susan to rush after us. Peter tried to step on the frozen river once we got down, but it started to crack as soon as he touched it.

"Maybe I should go first." Mr. Beaver suggested.

"Maybe you should." Peter nodded in agreement scared. Mr. Beaver made his way carefully on to the ice. As he tried to scope out the walkable area of the ice, it started to crack below his feet.

"You've been sneaking second helpings again!" Mrs. Beaver accused.

"Well, you never know which meal is going to be your last." Mr. Beaver chuckled, and then added, "Especially with your cooking."

Peter, Lucy, Susan, and Mrs. Beaver followed after him. They crossed as a small group, I waited on the side and watched them try to cross. I could swim, I didn't think it was the best idea to put any more pressure on the ice than what was already being put on by them. It wasn't until I saw the wolves starting to make their way to the river that I decided to step on to it.

As the wolves ran along the cliffs of the river, we sprinted across the ice, trying as carefully as we could not to fall through. The leader cut us off, jumping in front of Peter and snarling. We tried to back up, so that we could find another way out, but the other three wolves that had been chasing us were behind us. Mr. Beaver attacked one of the wolves behind us and was pinned down. After hearing fearful cries from both Susan and Lucy, Peter unsheathed his sword and pointed it at the lead wolf.

"Put that down, boy." The wolf scoffed, "Someone could get hurt."

"Do you have your dagger handy, Lucy?" I asked her quietly. She nodded. I nodded in return, knowing she wouldn't bring herself to use it. It's hard to say if she'd ever use it. "May I see it?"

"Leave now while you can." I heard the wolf warn Peter as Lucy sneakily handed me the dagger. I snuck it into the pocket of my coat for now. "And maybe your brother can leave with you."

"Stop Peter!" Susan yelled, "Maybe we should listen to him!"

"Are you shitting me?" I retorted angrily at her cowardice and her easy surrender, putting my hand on the dagger in my pocket, "I'm with Beaver, we should run him through! He's been chasing us since we got here and once we lower our defenses, he's gonna kill us. The only way we're gonna see Edmund or Alice again if we give him what he wants is in the afterlife. You should be retrieving your bow, not surrendering."

"Ah, c'mon this isn't your war." The wolf tried to reason, taking a step towards us.

"It became our war when you took our siblings." I narrowed my eyes at the wolf, taking out the dagger and pointed at him.

"Do you ever stop talking?" He asked annoyed.

"You know, it seems since we've gotten here, it's becoming increasingly difficult to suppress my opinion as I used to." I retorted, "Maybe it comes with being The Guide of the Covenant."

I saw a tinge of fear flash in his eyes before he continued menacingly, trying to convince Peter, "All my Queen wants is for you and your family to go."

"Look, just because some man in a red coat hands you a sword doesn't make you a hero!" Susan yelled at Peter, "Just drop it!"

"It's your choices and how you choose to help others that makes you a hero." I argued, "Dropping the sword and surrendering won't help anyone." I heard a rumbling noise coming from the cliffs. I looked up to see the snow on the banks and on the cliffs starting to move. "Peter." I called to get his attention, he looked at me. I pointed at the cliffs above us that were starting to break, "Please trust me and follow my lead." I bent down and thrust the dagger as hard as I could into the ice, causing it to crack and shatter on that side. Peter understanding my plan, ordered his sisters to hold on to him, and he plunged his sword into the ice to break it away from the wolves. Due to the sheets of ice from the avalanche and the flooding of water that had trapped behind the ice, we were all pushed forward and into the water. Lucy, Peter, and Susan were able to stay afloat on the sheet of ice while I had been knocked into the water upon impact. Luckily for me, I was a decent swimmer and the flow of the current was taking me exactly where I wanted to go for now. I was able to catch up with the Beavers, who were just ahead of me. The three of us watched as Lucy slipped into the water under the ice. I signaled to them that I'd get Lucy, while they helped steer Susan and Peter to land and get them out of the river. They swam up to the two of them and I went to Lucy. I pulled her up and got her onto the closest bank that I could. A few moments after we got on to the surface, Lucy started to come to and started coughing.

"Are you okay?" I asked her. I would have given her my coat, but I had discarded it because it had weighed me down.

She nodded, "I think so."

"Let's go find Peter, yeah?"

She nodded once more and we went to go catch up with everyone else. As we approached, we could hear Susan calling for Lucy.

"Has anyone seen my coat?" Lucy called to them as soon as we got close enough for them to hear her.

"She seemed to have lost it in the scuffle." I said as we walked over to them. The look on Peter's face was a mix of happiness and relief at the sight of Lucy next to me. He had her coat in his hands.

"Don't worry, dearie, you're brother's got you well looked after." Mr. Beaver told Lucy as Peter placed her coat on her shoulders.

"And I don't think you'll be needing those coats anymore." Mrs. Beaver commented, gesturing to the trees, which were starting to bloom.

 **Zoe's POV**

The further we walked and the more we talked to, the more I noticed with each place we went, the warmer it was. I had discarded my coat ages ago, it had gotten to warm with the constant moving.

"Ayden, could you tell me-" I started to ask him to tell me more about the prophecy, but he stopped me.

"Hide, Zoe." He warned, "Now."

"What?" I asked confused. I mean I had felt something odd for a while, but I had suppressed the feeling since nothing had happened as of yet. The confusion though wasn't in why he asked, it was because we both knew something or someone was approaching, but more of why I couldn't stay with him.

"You know why, Zoe, I'm not going to stand around and let them have you." He replied pointedly, "You are not ready to defend yourself against them yet. I care for you and would rather sacrifice myself than see anything happen to you."

"But Ayden-" I tried to argue.

"Please hide before it's too late." Ayden cut me off, "I will fight them off for as long as possible, but when they take me, follow your instincts and run. You'll find your way to Aslan."

"Ayden-" I tried again.

"Please." He implored, "If you won't do it for you, do it for me. I wouldn't be able to bare it if anything happened to you when I couldn't stop it."

"Alright." I conceded. I bent down, stroked his head, kissed his temple gently, and then pulled him into a hug. If he was going leave, I was going to say goodbye. "If something happens, after all of this is over, I will find you." I promised and then did as he said, climbing into the closest tree and hid on the highest branch I could.

Wolves approached Ayden not long after I climbed up into the tree. He fought them off for as he could, until they wore them down. I started to make my way down to help him, but as soon as Ayden caught what I was doing, he gave in and they carted him off. When they were far enough away, I climbed the rest of the way down and just started running in the direction we were originally heading. I just hope I'm heading the right way, finding Aslan was the only way I could save Ayden now.

 **Ayden's POV**

The wolves brought me to the White Witch. I knew my fate when I was dropped in front of her and I accepted it. Zoe was safe for now and was heading to Aslan, who will protect her.

"Forgive me, your Majesty." I apologized to the son of Adam, whom Zoe called Edmund. He had been someone she talked about for a good duration of our journey. She spoke about him almost as much as her sisters. The way she had spoken of him gave me hope for the type of king he would be.

"Don't waste my time with flattery." The Witch sneered.

"Not to seem rude, but I wasn't actually talking to you." I replied pointedly, and then looked to Edmund. The Witch stepped towards me with her staff pointed ready to strike on a moment'snotice.

"Where are the humans headed?" She asked directly, I started to back away silently. Edmund stepped in front of her, before she could do or say anything else. He told her everything he had heard from while he was still with the beavers. While I knew his intention was to spare me, I would have rather her not known about the stone table, the camp, and the armies and just have been turned into stone. It didn't do him much good, since she thanked him for his honesty and said she was going kill me. With a flash of light, my world turned black.

 **Zoe's POV**

It took me for what seemed like hours to find my way to the camp. The whole journey I missed Ayden, but I followed his advice and listened to my gut and it lead me all the way here. As I approached it, a centaur stopped me.

"Are you one of the daughters of Eve?" He asked. Judging by the inflection in his voice and the curious tone he had used, I was the first to arrive.

I shook my head, "I am of the Covenant of Three."

"Where are your sisters?"

"I don't know." I answered, "We were separated."

"I can vouch for the girl, Oreius." A female cheetah, Amara, who Ayden and I visited, told him as she walked over to us, "She was traveling with Ayden." She looked at me, "Where is he?"

"The wolves caught up to us." I answered.

She nodded solemnly and then told me, "Let's get you to Aslan, he's been waiting for you and your sisters to arrive." She led me to a tent at the end of a long narrow pathway, which had hundreds of colorful tents on either side of it. Upon seeing us, the centaur guarding the tent gave us orders to wait and then he went inside to speak with Aslan. A couple of minutes later, he came back out.

"Only the girl is to go inside." He instructed. I followed his orders and went inside the tent.

"What is your name, dear one?" The lion, Aslan, asked after the door to the tent shut. Did tents have doors? I guess it would be called an opening.

"Zoe Porter, sir."

"I've heard a great deal about you, Miss Porter." Aslan told me, "You are the youngest covenant witch, who separated from the others and journeyed with the fox, Ayden, to gather armies. In time you will be the Defender of the Covenant with your older sister, Jane, as the Guide, and your eldest sister, Alice, as the Healer, as it's been foretold in the prophecy."

"Yeah, about that prophecy, can you please explain our role is that in depth?" I asked him, "No one has been really able to tell us everything."

"All will be revealed in good time, Miss Porter." He replied, "When you and your sisters are all gathered together after the battle and after the kings and queens all gone through their coronation, everything will be explained."

 **Alice's POV**

"Ow…" I groaned as I awoke, slowly getting up, and then something dawned on me, "How am I awake?"

"I took pity on you and dressed your wounds." A male voice answered, I looked to my right to find a coyote lying down next to me.

"Why would you help me?"

"I thought it would better than watching you die." He replied nonchalantly.

"What's your name?"

"Seamus." He answered, "Don't bother thanking me, I don't want to hear it. It would waste time anyway. We have to get you out of here before this place starts to melt."


End file.
